Demon Magic
by lDragonElf
Summary: Voldemort is gone, but some of his followers remain in secret. With the barrier that separated the human and demon worlds gone, the dark wizards can now summon demons to serve them.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **If I owned either Harry Potter or Yu Yu Hakusho I wouldn't have to work two jobs to pay for college.

* * *

Prologue

The dark circle pulsed with power as they chanted. A thrill of excitement ran through him, it was working. The chant sped up as swirls of energy, black and dark red, began to emanate from the symbols painted on the ground. It had taken years of searching, waiting, avoiding the Aurors' attention, all the while hiding the vengeance he felt for the death of his lord; but it was finally time.

A sudden wave of fiery light erupted from the summoning circle, those surrounding it flinched back and the chant faltered, then stopped completely as they stared in disbelief. The light vanished, and in the center of the circle stood a demon. It was easily seven feet tall, with grey leathery skin, several horns protruding from it's head, and deadly looking fangs and claws. The demon turned toward him with a snarl, the wizard suppressed a yelp and pulled out the talisman he had spent so long searching for. As the demon approached he quickly chanted the activating spell, then watched in awe as it took effect. The demon stopped its advance then stepped forward and bowed before him.

The wizard smiled triumphantly, "Rise demon," he commanded, it obeyed.

"You will be the first of many," he said, "you and your kind will serve us in our quest to cleanse this world and restore its rightful order."

The witches and wizards surrounding him cheered and he felt confidence sweep through him. They would avenge their lord and fulfill his work; with this new-found power, no one could stop them.

* * *

**Author's note**

So this is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction, if anyone has advice I'd love the to hear it.

This takes place after the 7th harry potter book, but before Harry and Ginny get married. In this story Harry's going through Auror training, I have no idea if there is cannon for this so if you know, please let me know otherwise I'll mostly be making it up.

This is after the end of Yu Yu Hakusho, but only a few years cause Genkai is still alive.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: See prologue**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The message had said it was urgent.

"Feh, urgent. What do you want to bet this is about me ignoring Koenma's stupid communicator?" Yusuke asked the red-haired fox demon who walked beside him.

"That is a distinct possibility." Kurama replied, "However I doubt he would be able to convince Genkai to send for us if she didn't think it was of some importance. We did make it clear to him that neither of us had any interest in continuing to work for Rekai, as Genkai is well aware."

Yusuke grunted, then began walking faster. Kurama matched his pace once more and continued speaking. "If this is related to Rekai you might consider listening to the case before you start threatening Koenma's life." He stated mildly. Yusuke shot him a glare which the older boy matched evenly. After a few seconds he turned back to face their destination, grumbling something that could have been interpreted as a grudging agreement.

When they finally neared the top of the staircase leading to Genkai's home Yusuke's mood had worsened to the point where he was determined that if this long walk had been because of Koenma he would rei-gun first and ask questions later. In his mind the stupid toddler had no right to make him walk this far on a Saturday morning.

Kurama sighed as they topped the last step and were greeted by the sight of Genkai, Koenma, and Boton standing in front of the temple. Yusuke growled and stormed toward the small group, Kurama hurried to follow him.

"What do you want you stupid toddler!" Yusuke shouted. Koenma turned toward him, then stepped back in alarm when he saw Yusuke powering up his rei-gun.

Luckily for the Reikai leader Genkai stepped in.

"Put that away dimwit!" she snapped at him. "Listen first, and if you don't like it take the fight somewhere where it won't destroy me house." Yusuke glared at her then snorted and let his energy recede.

Koenma and Boton both let out sighs of relief and Kurama hid a smile.

"Alright, what do you want." Yusuke asked Koenma.

"I need you to recover manuscripts that were stolen from my vaults last week."

Yusuke looked at him incredulously, "Recover stolen objects, really!? And not even magical artifacts, but BOOKS? That is in no way, shape, or form a big deal."

"Please Yusuke, I wouldn't have brought you into this if it wasn't necessary, but they need to be captured and brought in immediately and Enki agreed that..."

"Don't give me that!" Yusuke snapped, "If Enki wanted me involved he would have asked me himself! You're just miffed cause demons managed to break into your vaults, AGAIN. Well it's Not. My. Problem! Don't call me again unless it's something really serious!"

With that Yusuke turned and stalked back down the steps.

Kurama started to follow, but Koenma stopped him.

"Kurama, I believe there's more at work here that just a few demon thieves. I brought the matter to Enki's attention first and discovered that the demons responsible vanished from Makai several weeks ago."

"Perhaps that's when they began planning their heist." Kurama suggested, unsure what the spirit prince was getting at.

"I don't mean vanished as in went off the radar. I mean they literally vanished, one minute there, the next gone, swept off in the middle of fights, meals, mid-sentence even!"

Kurama's eyes narrowed as he processed the information. He opened his mouth to reply, but Koenma hadn't finished.

"It's not just that, but some older demons who witnessed some of the disappearances recognized the type of energy, it's wizard magic! With the barrier down their old summoning spells can summon demons to be bound to their bidding. I think it was wizards masterminded the theft."

"Perhaps you could better your security around the vaults." Kurama suggested dryly. "As for the wizards summoning demons, I remember a time before the barrier when that kind of thing was common. I also remember that they couldn't summon and control anything higher than D-class. It really shouldn't pose a significant enough problem that you need to drag Yusuke and I into it."

Koenma looked at him gravely, "It may be only small level demons at the moment; but the manuscripts they stole detail the summoning and binding of even S-class demons. If dark wizards manage to decipher and use those spells no demon in Makai will be safe."

Kurama was silent for a moment before replying in a cold voice, "And why do such documents still exist outside the control of the Makai leaders?" Koenma's expression shifted quickly between surprise, alarm, and guilt before he managed to hide it.

"We thought it would be safer in our vaults than anywhere on the demon plane." He said hesitantly.

"Really, you thought it would be safer inside the vaults where two D and one C class demon broke in not too many years ago than in the vaults of any S-class demon who would have a vested interest in never letting the scrolls be seen again? If you didn't trust demons to keep them out of sight then why didn't you just have them destroyed?"

Koenma's eyes shifted away, unable to meet Kurama's glare.

"We may have forgotten about them until they were actually stolen." He said quietly.

Kurama closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'll go get Yusuke and try to talk to him, we'll handle it from here."

"Thank you Kurama."

"I would suggest that you use the time it will take me to convince him to go through your inventory of the vaults and find out if there are any other conveniently forgotten documents or artifacts that should be turned over to the care of the Makai. It seems that your incompetence has not changed and it is starting to get on my nerves."

Koenma shivered as the Kitsune turned and walked back down the steps to follow Yusuke. Then, with a signal to Boton, the Reiki prince disappeared.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Chapter one yay! Hopefully this is more interesting than the prologue. Again I'm open to critiques and suggestions, I'll try to update soon.

Makai = Demon plane

Reikai = Spirit world

**Edit: Thank you to the guest reviewer who pointed out a some inconsistencies, hopefully these updated chapters will clear that up a bit.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A shout broke the chilling silence that filled the abandoned mansion. A wizard in a dark robe and eery mask hesitantly pushed open the door.

"Lord Achan? Is everything all right?" He asked. The dark wizard inside the room turned toward him a wide smile adorning his face.

"It is better than alright Brent," he said triumphantly, "The contents of the first scroll have been revealed. We can now safely summon demons of immense power without fear of their breaking loose before we can bind them."

Brent winced slightly at the memory, they had summoned a moderately powerful demon near the beginning of the month, but the creature had proved completely immune to the power of the talisman and proceeded to slaughter five of the witches and wizards who had been in the summoning circle. It would most likely have killed them all, but the others had managed to apparate away before it could reach them. It had been due to these events that Lord Achan, their leader now that the Dark Lord had fallen, had sent some of the already bound demons to search out information on how to control stronger demons.

One had returned with two ancient looking scrolls that were written in some sort of code that no spell had been able to translate.

"This is indeed glorious news my lord," Brent stated, "But you said only the first scroll had been translated?"

"Yes," He murmured, "The other is proving increasingly difficult to decode."

"But sir, if the first scroll has all the information we need why bother with the second?"

Achan glared at him, "The first scroll only contains information on how to summon and contain the creatures." He said "However there is nothing about binding its will. I suspect that information is contained on this second scroll."

Brent nodded and began to back quietly out of the room, Achan's voice stopped him.

"The new moon is in two days, that is the most opportune time to summon demons. Go find Lenten, there are several things that must be gathered for this ritual to work. Then find enough of the faithful for a summoning circle, we will summon and contain a demon, and once I've deciphered this scroll we will bind it to our cause."

Brent nodded and quickly fled the room to do his master's bidding.

* * *

Harry winced slightly as a blade of light seemed to pierce directly into the center of his headache. Blinking quickly he stepped into the brightly lit healing ward and headed toward the main desk. The witch sitting there looked up and grinned as he came toward her.

"Let me guess, concealment spell gone wrong?" she asked.

Harry grimaced and nodded. "How could you tell?"

"I've been here long enough to know the signs, headache?"

"Yep."

"Hold on a moment, I'll get you a potion." The witch stood and walked briskly toward the cupboards that lined the back wall.  
Harry glanced around the mostly empty room as he waited. Two aurors sat at a table to his left discussing a folder of papers in front of them. His gaze passed over them, then returned as his ears caught part of their conversation.

"...of the symbols match those of ancient runes used for elaborate dark rituals, but others are completely foreign." The older of the two said.

"Yes," replied the other, "it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that whatever is causing the magical spikes has to do with the findings." She glanced toward Harry who let his gaze sweep past her, trying not to let on that he was eavesdropping.  
They dropped their voices after that and Harry only caught one name that sounded vaguely familiar before the healer came back with his headache potion.

"Here you are Mr. Potter, maybe practice some of those concealment spells with your red-haired friend? He's been coming in here a lot recently." She said with a rye smile.

"Yeah, we'll do that." Harry said. He downed the potion in a gulp, and sighed in relief as the pain in his head subsided. Then he thanked her and headed out toward the atrium.

He thought Ron and Hermione might be interested in what he had overheard.

* * *

**Author's note:**

Harry might be a little Ooc, I am finding him rather difficult to write, but I'll do my best.

Please review any likes, dislikes, critiques, comments, or other opinions, I'd love to hear them.


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **See Prologue

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Kurama nodded a polite goodbye to Kaz and stepped off the train into the light rain. The pleasant smile that had adorned his face slipped into a more thoughtful expression as he left the crowded station. It had been nearly a week since the disastrous meeting with Koenma and although Yusuke had listened to the full story he still refused to have anything to do with anything even slightly related Reiki.

Kurama turned the problem over in his head as he walked down the familiar streets to his apartment. A few streets away from his destination, the kitsune stiffened and turned sharply. It was suppressed quite well, he'd nearly missed it; but there was an aura of youki nearby.

Green eyes narrowed as he scanned the area around him and his hand went to his hair, fingers wrapped securely around one of his rose twigs. Then, just as suddenly as he'd gone on the defensive, he relaxed.

"Touya and Jin, if I'm not mistaken." He stated calmly.

There was a stir of movement in the side street to his left and he glanced over to see an ice- demon walk slowly into the glow cast by the street-lamps.

Floating at his side a red-haired wind demon grinned cheekily at him.

"Nearly didn't sense us didya fox?"

Kurama gave them a sidelong look before he turned and continued walking, the two ex-shinobi fell in step, or floated, beside him.

"I'm impressed you managed to hide your youki so well." Kurama remarked, "With levels as high as yours that is a considerable feat."

Touya smirked, "That is one benefit to our previous training."

"True, why have you both come to the human world? There aren't very many opponents left here that could present a challenge to you."

His two companions quieted, Jin's ever-present grin fading. Kurama glanced at them but they avoided his gaze, he faced forward again.

"It must be serious then." he stated quietly.

* * *

The trio reached Kurama's building and he led them silently up the stairs and into his apartment. He locked the door behind them, then led them to the living room.

He sat on a chair across from the two visitors and crossed his legs in a relaxed posture.

"Now, why have you two come here?"

Touya and Jin glanced at each other, then Jin leaned back against the couch back and Touya turned to face their host.

"We were sent here by Mukuro, she said you would know by now that demons have been vanishing."

Kurama nodded, "Yes, Koenma suspects wizards are behind it."

"So he told you about the summoning scrolls that he had and allowed to be stolen?"

Kurama raised an eyebrow as the room's temperature dropped a few degrees. "Yes, apparently Reiki forgot about their existence until they were stolen. I advised him to take a closer look at his inventory and turn over any other such documents or artifacts to Enki for safe-keeping."

Jin snorted, "So that's why he suddenly decided to offer a 'token of trust' to Makai."

"Probably, Koenma approached Yusuke and I nearly a week ago to take care of it, but Yusuke's become rather tired of dealing with Reiki and he wouldn't even stay to hear the whole case. I explained the details to him, but he still refuses to work with them."

Touya hesitated, "Maybe he'll change his mind when he hears our news..."

Kurama's eyes narrowed, "What news is that?"

"Several of Mukuro's underlings have vanished, or been summoned as we now know, it was mostly low-classes so she didn't really care, but recently one of her higher-ups was summoned."

"So they've already translated the first one. But why would she send you to Yusuke and I?"

The two messengers glanced at each other again before Jin answered, "Because she thought it'd be of personal interest to you. The high-level that vanished was Hiei."

* * *

**Author's Note**

Yay, the plot's showing up! I'll try to update as soon as I can but my professors love assignments so there will most likely be uneven pauses between updates.

Questions, Comments, and Nasty Remarks? Review and let me know.


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** See Prologue

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Harry walked through the crowded street toward the Leaky Cauldron. He ducked inside and was greeted by the slightly quieter clamor of wizards conversing after a long day. He scanned the room, then headed toward a table near the back where he could see Ron and Hermione sitting.

They looked up as he approached. "Hullo Harry." Ron said tiredly.

Harry sat down across from his two friends and leaned back in the chair with a sigh.

Hermione glanced up then returned to glaring at her plate.

"Something wrong Hermione?" Harry asked cautiously.

"No, everything's just fine." she replied icily.

Harry and Ron glanced at each other Ron shrugged.

"Trouble with your magical creature rights petition?" He asked.

"Ugh yes!" Hermione threw down her fork. "The main problem is that the magical creatures themselves don't seem to care. Many of the local herds of centaurs, as well as other magical creatures have been hostile and defensive toward us but they won't tell us why. Don't they know we're trying to help them!?"

"Well most magical creatures don't have much reason to trust the magical community." Harry pointed out.

Hermione nodded, "I know that, but I think there's more to this than just their usual distrust. I think wizards might be practicing dark magic in those ares, they're very isolated and it would explain why the magical creatures would be reluctant to speak to us. But no one in the magical law enforcement will listen to me!"

"Where is all this happening?" Harry asked.

"Mostly toward the south, well away from muggle and wizard towns. The most recent place was a forest called Trers Wood."

Harry's eyes narrowed at the name, it sounded very familiar.

"Well maybe," Ron mumbled around a mouthful of food, "But getting angry won't fix the problem."

Hermione looked down with a sigh, "I know."

Ron turned to Harry, "So did you ever figure out how to do that concealment spell? I'm still having trouble with it."

"Not quite," Harry replied, "I'm improving but there's still some magical backlash, Yesterday it was only a headache though... That's it!"

"What?" Ron asked confused.

"That's where I've heard of the Trers Wood, Yesterday when I went to get a headache potion there were two Aurors talking about strange symbols that have been found in areas if recorded magical spikes. They mentioned Trers Woods as one of the more recent places."

Hermione looked up in interest as Harry continued. "They said that some of the symbols are used for dark rituals."

"Do you know where else these symbols have appeared?" she asked.

"No, but if it is dark magic than whoever is doing it is probably looking for out-of-the-way places to avoid getting caught."

"If they're using symbols and runes than they would also need places with a large magical aura."

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Honestly you two, magic circles are used when a wizard or group of wizards' power is not enough to accomplish whatever they're trying to do. The magic circle will pull magic from the surrounding area and channel it according to the instructions in the circle. The more magical aura in the area, the more power the circle will have."

"So how do they find a place with a lot of magical aura?" Ron asked.

"Well magical creatures tend to congregate in areas with high aura levels, the forbidden forest actually has quite a lot of aura stored up..." She trailed off.

"Do, do you think whoever is making the circles would try it in the forbidden forest?" Harry asked.

"No it's too close to the school, but I think I'll write Hagrid and see if he's heard anything from the magical creatures that live there."  
Harry nodded and they lapsed into silence.

* * *

Achan hurried down the corridor in the dungeons of the mansion. Ahead of him a witch, one who had been guarding their newest acquisition led the way with her lit wand. As they approached the final room both humans flinched as a wave of power hit them.

"What is this!?" Achan gasped.

"Like I said Lord, the demon is resisting the containment spells. It's nearing the breaking point!"

They pushed forward and entered the room. In the back corner, surrounded by containment spells and wards a small demon lay in a forced sleep. But on his forehead a purple eye was open and blazing. Achan could sense the eye's power straining against the spells that kept the demon asleep and contained. He pulled out the talisman and re-recited the chants that strengthened the spells. After several moments the waves of power emanating from the eye faded, but the eye remained open. Achan turned sharply and stalked back to his office, they needed to finish translating the final scroll quickly or they would all die at the demon's hand.

* * *

**Author's note: **Sorry about the slow update, school does take priority over my stories unfortunately. I've had a few requests to write longer chapters, I'll try to, but they always seem to end up short. I may end up just combining chapters together, do you guys think that would work or would it make things confusing? Please review any comments, questions, or inconsistencies.


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **See prologue.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Yusuke's ramen stand was mostly empty when Kurama arrived, with only two customers. He waited until they left before approaching.

Yusuke looked up at the sound of quiet footsteps, "Yo Kurama, what's up?" He asked cheerfully.

Kurama smiled wryly, "Nothing good I'm afraid." he responded.

"Yeah? What's the problem?"

"You remember the scrolls that were stolen from spirit world?"

Yusuke's face darkened, "Yeah, what about them."

"At least one, if not both of them have been deciphered, and..."

"Look," Yusuke interrupted, "I already told you I don't want to go running around looking for some crazy magic people. What's your point."

"The 'crazy magic people' have summoned and now possibly control Hiei."

Yusuke froze, "What the Hell!? How did they get him?"

"Presumably they summoned him with the scrolls they stole."

"How does that even work? From what you've told me these guys have hardly any power, how could they overpower A and S class demons?"

"I'm unclear on the details, but it seems that with ritual circles they can draw power from the surrounding area, and the scrolls instruct them on how to suppress and invert youki, which would allow them to at least contain high-class demons that they summoned."

"Keh." Yusuke grunted, "Guess we better go find the shrimp huh?"

Kurama nodded.

* * *

It was a long bus ride and then hike to get to Genkai's, by the time the two demons arrived the sun was already beginning to set.

"Oy Hag. Guess who." Yusuke hollered as they reached the top of the stairs.

They crossed the lawn to the front of the temple where the old psychic stood waiting for them.

"And why exactly are you here bone-head?" she asked.

"We need to look for wizards but we don't want to talk to Koenma." Yusuke said with a cheeky grin. "So we thought you might know something."

The old woman snorted, "Finally decided to get involved huh? Well you might as well come in then." She turned and stalked back into the temple with Kurama and Yusuke close behind.

Once inside she sat down on a mat and poured herself a cup of tea. "Well, why are you suddenly interested in wizards and what do you want to know?"

Before Yusuke could say anything Kurama quickly explained that Hiei had been summoned, and that they wanted to find the wizards and Hiei. Yusuke added that they would probably have a bonfire using the scrolls afterward.

After they had finished telling her the details Genkai nodded briskly.

"Alright, first things first, do you know where in the world these wizards are?"

They both hesitated then shook their heads.

"Thought as much, well it's a safe bet they're not in Japan, the ministry would have figured out what they were doing and arrested them before they managed to get this far. I'm not up to date on international wizard affairs, but I do know a few people I could ask. I'm assuming you'd prefer for knowledge of the scrolls and the techniques they contain to remain as secret as possible?"

Kurama nodded.

"Alright I'll see what I can find. Since you two will most likely be traveling across the globe we'll need to come up with a cover-story for you."

"I know that different climates have different magical plants, I could say I'm traveling around to study the different properties of magical plants around the globe." Kurama suggested after a moment.

Genkai nodded, "That could work for you, but I doubt Yusuke could pull it off."

They both turned to look at him approvingly, "No you're right," Kurama said, "That cover wouldn't work for him."

"Well what other stuff does the 'wizarding world' have in it?" Yusuke asked. "Do they have any tournaments?"

"Not the kind you're thinking of." Kurama told him.

"Well what about being some kind of bodyguard or something?" Yusuke asked, disappointing, "If wizards are as super-paranoid as you've made them out to be that would be fairly common right?"

"No, having a bodyguard wouldn't make sense for an herbologist unless they were from a very old family. That would draw too much attention to you two."

"What if we say he's my cousin, and he wanted to come along because he was bored." Kurama suggested.

Yusuke and Genkai pondered the idea.

"That could work." Genkai said, "Alright I'll ask around and try to find a good starting place for your search, Kurama fill Yusuke in on anything he might need to know about wizarding Japan, I'll call you when I find something. Now get out of here!"

The two demons stood.

"Thank you Genkai." Kurama said, then they turned and headed back toward the city.

* * *

As they stood waiting for the last bus to arrive Yusuke turned toward his red-haired companion, "Hey Kurama, how do you know so much about wizards anyway?"

Kurama gave him a sidelong glance, "I ran into a few wizards when I was Yoko, and when Koenma told me that wizards had take the scrolls I thought it would be prudent to update my knowledge on them. I've spent the past week gathering information on their society, it hasn't changed all that much since then."

"Huh, so what do I need to know?"

"Well for one thing we'll probably be posing as psychics not wizards. Wizard magic is very difficult to fake and we don't have much time. Luckily wizards and psychics in Japan are on rather good terms with each other, and unless they have very specific training wizards can't tell the difference between reiki and youki.  
"Most wizards use wands and specific phrases or rituals to channel their magic, although many can use what they call wand-less magic which is very similar to some of the reiki techniques Genkai taught you; but it's not nearly as powerful. On average I'd say most wizards are around C-class level so if it does come to a fight they shouldn't too much trouble unless they've had time to prepare beforehand and set up a ritual circle. Which is why we should try very hard to be discrete." He said with a pointed look.

"What, I can be discrete if I try."

"Let's hope so, otherwise this could end very badly."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Whew, Midterms are over finally, I will hopefully be writing more over spring break and finish another chapter soon. As always please review and let me know what you guys think.


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **See prologue

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_Hagrid,_  
_Have you noticed any of the magical creatures of the Forbidden forest acting unusual lately?_  
_\- Hermione_

_Hermione,_  
_No-one in the forest's been acting any stranger than usual. Why do you ask?_  
_\- Hagrid_

_Hagrid,_  
_Lots of magical creatures that live in areas with a lot of concentrated magical energy are acting more hostile that usual toward wizards in those areas. I hadn't heard of anything in your area, but I wanted to make sure._  
_\- Hermione_

_Hermione,_  
_Well nothing so far, but I'll watch out for anything and let you know._  
_-Hagrid_

* * *

Achan was in a state of near ecstasy, the code that hid the contents of the second scroll had finally been broken, and, as he had hoped, it detailed how one might bring a powerful demon under their control. The instructions and ingredients were complicated, and if the ritual failed the consequences would be dire, but they were completing the work of their great lord and master, there was no way they could fail!

He looked down at the demon that would soon be his to command, the eye was still open, straining against it's restraints, but the thought no longer bothered him.

"Soon demon, you will become part of our glorious work, and no one, not even that wretched half-blood who killed our master will be able to stop us!"  
The demon didn't respond, and after a few moments Achan turned. He had a small army of the weaker demons now, it would be prudent for him to practice controlling them, and what better way than cleansing a part of London? He laughed to himself, this would be an amusing day.

* * *

It was several days after they had received Hagrid's last letter that Hermione met Harry and Ron for lunch in a state of excitement.

"It took a bit of searching but I finally found a book that might give us some insight on what type of ritual whoever this is could be doing." She said as she set a large tome on the table.  
They were sitting in the kitchen of number 12 Grimmauld place, a now much depleted pile of sandwiches sat on a plate in the center of the table.

"What does it say?" Harry asked.

Ron leaned in for a closer look at the cover.

"Well there are many different types of rituals," Hermione said as she opened the book to a marked page, "but the ones that require highly magical locations are: necromancy, life or will bindings, demon summonings, and rituals to create control amulets. I haven't been able to find out what control amulets are, but I think we can agree that none of those options are sounding good."

Harry and Ron nodded, this was sounding darker and more evil the more they uncovered. Hermione closed the book and glanced up at them, "So have either of you found or heard anything else?"

Ron scowled, "I've been trying to eavesdrop on the older Aurors, but I haven't been able to hear anything interesting yet."

"Me neither." Harry added.

"I guess we'll just have to keep listening and researching." Ron said in a disheartened voice.

"We could tell Kingsly what we've found." Hermione suggested tentatively.

"No, he'd want to know why we were researching and then we'd have to admit to eavesdropping." Harry said, "Besides at this point we're just speculating, we should wait until we have something concrete to tell him."

They lapsed into silence.

"So, any other news?" Ron asked weakly.

Hermione brightened, "Did you hear that Neville is assisting Professor Sprout in teaching Herbology at Hogwarts now?"

"Oh? Where did you hear that?" Harry asked.

"I saw Luna in Diagon Alley the other day, she mentioned it to me."

"How is Luna?" Ron asked, "I heard she took over The Quibbler from Xenophilius a few months ago."

"She did, and it's been doing very well." Hermione acknowledged.

Suddenly a silvery lynx appeared in the center of the room, the three friends stood as they recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt's patronus. The deep voice of the minister of magic emanated from the glowing creature, "All aurors and aurors in training are to report to the ministry at once, there's an emergency."

Harry and Ron shared a glance, then all three of them turned on the spot, disapparating and heading to the ministry of magic.

* * *

Achan was laughing, the sound of it was covered by screams and shouts, but he laughed anyway. His demons had taken to their work with an eagerness that was almost frightening. Muggles ran in all directions as the demons chased them down, smashing and breaking things as they went; already numerous dead lay in the streets.

Loud popping cracks alerted him to the arrival of wizards, most likely aurors, he decided. He checked to make sure his invisibility spell was still in place, then settled back to watch the show.  
The aurors began throwing spells into the fray, some shield spells to protect the muggles and some attacks on the demons. The latter didn't seem to have any visible affect. Achan grinned, just as he had hoped, most spells were ineffective against the demons.

Achan whispered a command into the control amulet and some of the demons turned toward the attacking wizards. The aurors quickly learned that almost none of their spells had an affect on the ogre-like demons; only shield or transportation spells managed to phase the creatures. Until three wizards cast stunners at the same demon at the same time; it wavered, then fell to the ground unconscious. Achan's eyes narrowed as word spread and other wizards began teaming up to do the same. Perhaps it was time to leave.  
He muttered a command to return to the base where his army was hidden, then turned in place and disapparated.

* * *

Hermione was very glad she had taken the extra time to return to school and learn healing spells. The number of wounded muggles was more than the aurors themselves could handle and so she walked around healing cuts, bruises, broken bones, and any other injury that she could.  
The muggles, once healed, were quickly stunned and obliviated, but there was still the matter of what to do about the dead. A few stores were left un-repaired, by the cleaning crews, Kingsley had already gone to see the muggle minister and had arranged a cover-story about a gas explosion which had caused the damage, and deaths.

It took several hours, but finally the work was done and the witches and wizards who had been helping had left. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had returned to the ministry; in light of what had just happened they agreed that it was probably a good idea to tell the minister what they had uncovered.  
Kingsley listened to what they had to say in his office, and sat in silence for several moments after they had finished.

"So you believe that the recent hostility in magical creatures, the strange symbols, and magical flares from the same areas are a result of some dark wizards summoning an army of demons that they just used to attack those muggles with."

"Yes." Harry replied.

"Well it does make sense; Potter and Weasley, you're going to be working with Aurors Smith and Fields on looking into this. See if you can find where this group is hiding. Ms. Granger, if you could work with our research division, see if you can find out more about this summoning ritual."

They nodded and left the office.

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**Another chapter up, Please review with any comments or deep thoughts. I love reviews.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer: See Prologue**

* * *

Kurama and Yusuke met Genkai in the forest that surrounded her home. Both demons carried a small packed bag that contained any essentials they might need as they traveled around the world. Genkai held an old, cracked teapot, that reeked of magic and a small box.

"Now according to the Wizards I talked to, The United Kingdom has had the most recent Dark magic activity, so that's probably the best place to start. This," she said, putting down the teapot, "Is a port-key, it will take you to London. Once there you can get a room in the Leaky Cauldron, that's the local inn, and exchange money at Gringotts bank and start your search."

"Yeah, slight problem." Yusuke said, "I don't know about Kurama, but I don't speak English."

Kurama nodded, "I know enough to get by, but we're going to need some sort of translating device for this to work."

Genkai harrumphed, "I thought of that already." She held out a small box with two fine-link chains in it. "These chains will translate any language, spoken or written, that it's set too. They're set to translate English to Japanese and back currently, instructions on how to change them are in the bottom of the box."

Yusuke pulled a face, "Necklace chains, really? That's kinda girly Grandma."

Kurama took the box, "It doesn't have to be visible Yusuke, and it will be much easier to find Hiei if we can actually understand what people are saying." He removed one of the chains and wrapped it around his left wrist.

"Fine, fine." Yusuke grumbled taking the second necklace and tucking in under his shirt. "But it's still stupid."

"Right," Kurama said, "Was there anything else Sensei?"

"No, now get out of here." Genkai growled.

The demons stepped up to the cracked teapot, on the count of three they grabbed it and with a jerk they were gone.

* * *

The landing caused both Yusuke and Kurama to stagger in place, but there didn't seem to be any other effects. They stood and brushed themselves off as they looked around.

They had landed in a large empty room, to the left was a shelf filled with various strange objects, a sign above it read "Port-keys here". Kurama glanced at the cracked teapot lying innocently on the ground, then carefully picked it up and placed it on the shelf next to the other objects. The room was eerily silent, and the two demons were on their guard as they approached the doorway that they assumed would lead them out. Kurama opened the door slowly, and a wave of noise hit them. Outside lay a bustling street, lined with what could only be magical shops. The two demons exited the building and looked with interest at the crowd of witches and wizards that milled around them.

They kept to the edges of the crowd as they cautiously made their way toward the large Gringotts Bank.

As they approached it, Kurama grinned slightly.

"What's so funny fox?" Yusuke demanded.

Kurama nodded at the warning inscribed above the door of the bank. Yusuke read it and snorted. "Well that's a challenge if I've ever seen one."

"Yes, but we shouldn't get side-tracked." Kurama replied, "Perhaps we can come back and test their security one day." he said mischievously.

They entered the bank and looked at the rows of goblin tellers with interest.

"Are those demons?" Yusuke asked quietly.

"No, they're goblins," Kurama replied in a hushed voice, "but I believe they are very distantly related to a certain type of low class demon."

They approached one of the goblin tellers who glared down his long nose at them as though they had greatly offended him.

"Excuse us," Kurama began politely, "We were told you could exchange muggle and wizard currencies here?"

The goblin's glare didn't lessen as he nodded, "What currency?" he croaked.

"Japanese Yen." Kurama replied, placing some of the money he had brought on the counter.

The goblin took the money and examined it. Then with growled command to "Wait here." the goblin turned and stalked away. After a few minutes he returned with a small pouch of coins, he handed it to Kurama who thanked him, and the two demons left the bank.

It took several minutes, but finally they found their way to The Leaky Cauldron. Kurama rented a room, then they ordered a meal and sat down at a table near the back of the room. They ate quietly, both listening for any mention of strange events that could indicate that demons were in the area.

They were almost finished eating when two wizards at a table to their left mentioned an attack on "the muggles" by an army of strange troll-like creatures.  
Both demons listened closer at the description, this sounded promising.

"No one knows where they came from or where they went, but they managed to do some significant damage to the muggles before the aurors showed up."

"Don't really know why they bothered, if they attacked the muggles it's not really our business."

The first man responded but the words were drowned out by a sudden shout of laughter from another nearby table. By the time it died down the two wizards had moved on to another subject.

They didn't hear anything else that night.

* * *

Over the next few days Kurama and Yusuke explored wizarding London. The regular patrons of The Leaky Cauldron soon learned about the Japanese psychic who was studying magical plants and his cousin who had come along out of boredom.

Three days after they had arrived in England Yusuke sat at the bar watching wizards come and go. Kurama was visiting one of the magical plant shops he had found, buying new specimens to add to his collection of seeds and twigs. Yusuke had grown tired of looking at plants and had elected to remain behind and listen for any clue of where the demons were.

Now, with the daylight almost gone and the wizards getting ready to leave for the night, Yusuke almost wished the summoned demons would show up and cause trouble, if only so he could get a decent fight. He took another sip of the "Fire-whiskey" Tom had suggested he try, and glared out over the crowd of wizards.

He perked up a bit as he felt a hostile presence approach from behind him; seconds later a large hand fell on his shoulder and he glanced up to see two wizards looking at him distastefully. It was the larger of the two that had grabbed him, the smaller one was standing to the side with the unmistakable air of someone who thinks they're far to important to get their hands dirty.

"I don't believe I recognize you," The smaller wizard began in an overly disinterested tone, "Are you visiting London?"

"What do you care if I am?" Yusuke replied.

"I make it a point to get to know visiting wizards, one can never have too many allies after all."

His smile wouldn't have fooled a toddler, Yusuke snorted and shrugged the hand off his shoulder, "Well don't bother with me then, I'm not a wizard."

The wizard's smile froze on his face, "What do you mean 'not a wizard'? Muggles can't even see this place."

Yusuke rolled his eyes, "Despite what you British wizards seem to believe, humans aren't split into wizards and muggles. I'm a psychic, and I'm really not interested in with anyone at the moment." He turned back to his drink ignoring the two wizards.

"I've never heard of a psychic, is that just another term for a mudblood?"

"You wouldn't have," Yusuke responded, refusing to look back at them, "from what I've heard they aren't very common in the western world. Now would you mind leaving? I'm trying to enjoy my drink."

The bigger wizard grabbed his chair and turned it around, "You should speak more respectfully to a wizard who is obviously above your station." He said threateningly.

Yusuke grinned, "Sorry, I don't respect anyone I could beat in a fight."

The big wizard scowled at him, "What do you think you could do that would beat our spells?"

Yusuke's grin turned feral, "Would you like an example?"

"Yusuke!" Kurama's warning voice cut sharply through the rising tension. The two wizards spun around to see the red-head standing a few feet away with a blank look on his face.

Yusuke deflated a bit, "Just have to ruin my fun don't you." he muttered.

The smaller wizard glanced between them then, deciding that Kurama was the one in charge, turned to the red-head. "As I was telling your friend.." He began.

"Thank you," Kurama interrupted, "but as Yusuke said we're psychics not wizards, and we're not interested in taking sides on any of your conflicts."

The Kitsune turned and walked toward the staircase that led up to the rooms on the upper floor of the pub. Yusuke followed after shooting a final glare at

the two wizards who watched them go in silence.

* * *

Once they had reached their room Kurama turned to Yusuke, "I thought you said you could be discrete."

"I can!" the younger demon protested.

"Picking a fight with two wizards is not discrete." Kurama told him pointedly.

Yusuke flopped down onto one of the chairs that sat next to the table, "They were being annoying."

"That's not the point, can you not go for a few hours without getting into trouble?"

"What took you so long anyway?" Yusuke demanded, "I thought you were just picking up some plants."

"I was following a possible lead." Kurama replied evenly.

"You found Hiei?" Yusuke asked excitedly.

"Not exactly, I overheard a wizard mention demons to his friend and followed them for a while to eavesdrop. Apparently a few demons were captured after the attack we heard about and are being held prisoner by the ministry of magic in their top prison. I did a little snooping and found out where it's located, if these demons are some of the summoned ones they might be able to tell us where the wizards who summoned them are based."

"Well let's go ask them!" Yusuke said turning to leave.

"Not now Yusuke, the security in Askaban is tight, I'll need a few days to come up with a plan to get around it."

Yusuke scowled, "Fine, but don't take too long. I'm getting bored of just sitting around."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the slow update. I had three exams, two papers and my brother came home from his two-year mission so I was a bit distracted. Please review any thoughts/comments etc.

**Edit: My hard drive has locked so I won't be able to update until I can get my documents retrieved or I rewrite the whole chapter. Sorry for the long wait, hopefully it will only be a few more weeks.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: See Prologue**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

The atmosphere in the Ministry was one of grim determination. There had been another demon attack on Muggle London, but this time the demons had withdrawn before the Aurors could show up.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat in the Minister's office, they had been summoned to discuss the current situation.

"As you've no doubt heard by now," he began, "we captured three demons during the attack and have been holding them in Azkaban. We'd hoped to get information from them regarding who planned the attack, but so far we've been completely unsuccessful. Veritiserum has no effect on them, they don't respond to threats and I'm reluctant to try using the unforgivable curses to get information from them."

"Good," Harry said tersely, "We're not going to act like Death Eaters, even if they are demons."

"As far as other ways to get information from them," Hermione spoke up, "there may be some information on that in the older tomes in the library. I was reading through some old documents from the 12-1300s a few weeks ago while I was looking for details on the original Statute of Secrecy laws and how they apply to other magical creatures, and one book had several chapters dedicated to demons. I didn't read them in any depth at the time, but there might be something in there about how to get information from them."

Kingsley nodded, "See what you can find."

Hermione stood and hurried off to do research.

Kingsley turned to Harry and Ron, "I'm asking all the Aurors to take shifts standing guard outside the demon's cell, since we don't know what their capable of and I want to be sure they won't escape. Check at Arbott's desk for your scheduled time and a list of spells we know work on them."

The two trainees nodded and left to do as he said.

* * *

The prison was an impressive sight. Tall, made entirely from seamless black stone, it stood out even against the night sky. Near the base of the tower two figures crouched in the mist, only discernible to the sharpest eyes.

Yusuke eyed the building, "It doesn't look that difficult." he muttered.

Kurama shot him an irritated glance, "Use your sixth sense, not your eyes." he hissed back.

Yusuke rolled his eyes, but did as he said. His eyes widened as thousands of magical signatures scraped against his mind. "Wow."

"And that's just the surface wards, they have layers on layers of those, not to mention both live and animated guards."

"But you can get past it right?"

"Of course I can, getting you through will be the hard part."

Kurama finished sifting his pollen mixture into small pods, then stood and handed Yusuke a small pouch of the pods.

"Drop those if you come across anything that moves," he instructed, "they'll freeze it and wipe its memory of us."

The toushin took it gingerly, "What stops it from freezing me?" he asked.

Kurama shook his sleeves out, "You hold your breath."  
From his sleeves came a mist that mingled with the already drifting fog and thickened it. "Let's go."

* * *

The climb into the tower wasn't difficult with Kurama's youki-strengthened vines. They reached an opening about halfway up and hung there for a few minutes while Kurama fiddled with the wards, creating a small opening for them to slip through.  
Once it was large enough the two hanyous slipped through almost silently.

"Hold your breath." Kurama muttered to Yusuke before releasing the pollen mixture into the prison. They waited a few minutes as it dissipated through the building. When Kurama deemed it safe they crept forward into the echoing corridor. Kurama concentrated, then looked up.  
"There, two D and one C-class."

They made their way upwards, the cell that held the demons was separated from the other prisoners by several corridors. As they approached it both Kurama and Yusuke flinched as anti-demon wards tried to push them back. But these wards were never meant to stand against S-class demons and the two hanyous pushed through them without too much trouble.

They neared the final corner but Kurama stopped short.

"Two guards," he whispered, "they're still awake."

He pulled two pollen pods out of his pouch and held them loosely in his left hand as he inched forward to peak around the corner. Suddenly he stepped out into the open; two wizards looked up in surprise from where they stood next to a lone cell. Kurama threw the pods at their feet, they exploded and the pollen billowed up. Both hanyous held their breath as the pollen dissipated, then stepped over the fallen wizards to the cell door.

Three demons lay on the floor of the cell, obviously knocked out by Kurama's pollen mixture.

Yusuke grinned, "I know just how to wake them up!" he whispered, drawing his fist back and charging it with youki in the familiar stance of his shotgun technique.

"Wait!" Kurama hissed, "we don't want them loose just yet."

He pulled out a small pouch that contained the antidote to the sleeping mixture and carefully blew a small portion into the cell. It took effect almost immediately and the three demons began to stir. They drew back defensively as soon as the sensed the presence of the two high-class demons outside their cell.

"What are you doing here?" The C-class, who was apparently very brave or very stupid, snarled at them.

Kurama and Yusuke looked down at him.

"We're here to get answers" Kurama replied evenly. "You three were summoned to Ningenkai by a wizard who then used you to attack the city, correct?"

"So what if we were?" the low-class snarled back.

"We want to know the whereabouts of the S-class demon that was summoned a few weeks after you, and what the wizard's plan is for the demons he's summoned thus far." Kurama said in a quiet voice.

"And why should we answer you?"

"Because if you don't," Yusuke growled, "I'll get irritated. And if you irritate me, I may decide to take it out on you."

The low-class shrank back slightly before replying.  
"Well I don't know of any high-classes being summoned, and the wizard didn't really tell us much about his plans. I can tell you where the wizard kept us," the demon paused before adding with a sly look, "but it will cost you."

Kurama's eyes narrowed to slits and his face hardened. "Your payment is your life, scum," he said in a deadly voice. The three low-classes drew back in alarm as the kitsune loosened his hold on his youki, allowing it to was over them. "Be sure, if you do not tell us what we want to know your companions will be much more cooperative after we kill you."

The demon cowered down, "Of course, of course I'll tell you whatever you need to know Lord!"

Yusuke snorted, "Coward."

Kurama shot him a sideways glance before returning his attention to the demons in front of them.  
"I have a better idea," he stated, "we'll break you three out and you'll take us to the place. If you're telling the truth, we'll open a portal to Makai for you to return through; if you're lying, we'll kill you; and if you try to run, we'll hunt you down. Is that clear?"

The three demons nodded hurriedly.

Kurama turned to Yusuke, "now you may break the wall down."

Yusuke grinned and turned toward the cell. The three demons shuffled backwards when they realized what was about to happen. The toushin drew back his fist then with a shout of "Shotgun" he blasted the wall with multiple blasts of youki, reducing it to a pile of rubble and vaporizing the wards that had contained the low-class demons.

They crept forward hesitantly under the hard gazes of the two half-bloods and brushed themselves off. The C-class spoke up once more, "If you'll follow me Lords."

The group of demons made their way out of the prison

* * *

The mansion was decrepit and looked completely uninhabitable. Yusuke and Kurama followed the two demons around the mansion to a cave opening hidden by a thicket of trees.

"This is where the low-class demons stay." the C-class told them.

Kurama extended his senses, feeling for the youki and magic signatures that would indicate where their quarry was. He frowned, "If this is where the wizard keeps the summoned demons, than why is there no youki signature, and why does it smell as though no one has been here in at least a week?" he demanded.

The low-classes looked at each other in alarm before dashing into the cave, with the hanyous close behind. The inside was empty of any life.

Yusuke turned on the demons, "There's nothing here you lying little..."

"Wait Yusuke," Kuram interrupted.

The younger hanyou looked at him questioningly as the red-head knelt near the wall of the cave, examining some marks on the ground.

"They're telling the truth, there was a large group of demons in here recently. Whoever is behind this probably moved everything when these three got captured."

The three demons relaxed visibly and the C-class stepped forward, "We kept out end of the bargain, we showed you the base, now open the portal."

Yusuke turned toward them with a snarl "You don't command us low-class."

Kurama laid a calming hand on his shoulder, "You're sure you don't know anything else?" he asked, looking challengingly at the demons. They all shook their heads; after a moment Kurama nodded, "Very well."  
He raised his hand and pulled on something in the air and a hole opened up in front of them. The three low-class demons darted through it into the red-lit plains of Makai.

Kurama closed the portal with another gesture and turned toward the cave entrance.  
Yusuke followed him out, "So now what? We have no lead."

"Not necessarily," Kurama replied, "there might be a clue inside the mansion."

They entered the mansion cautiously, on the alert for any leftover traps. The upper levels yielded nothing of interest except what seemed to be an old map of a castle and its surrounding forest. In one of the cells in the dungeon however, they felt a familiar youki signature.

Yusuke looked at Kurama, startled, "That's Hiei!"

The older hanyou shook his head, "It's just residue, he's not here anymore. But it does indicate that he spent a fair amount of time here."

As they entered the cell, both tantei shivered as fragmented wards brushed against their senses. These wards were definitely meant to contain S-class demons. On the floor were symbols of calming, sleeping, and containment; painted around one corner where the youki residue was strongest.

"Well I think we know for certain that Hiei was here, and not voluntarily." Kurama said.

"So he was here, but where did they go?" Yusuke asked.

"Let's find where this castle is." Kurama replied, holding up the map. "That may give us some clue of the wizard's plans."

"And if it doesn't?" Yusuke demanded.

"Then we're back to square one."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Sorry about the long wait, I'm going to try and update more regularly.

Please review, I love reviews!

To those who are following my Nura fic, the next chapter is in progress and will hopefully be done within a week.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Harry stood by the entrance of the cafe, shifting nervously from one foot to the other as he resisted the urge to check his watch. He heard a familiar voice call his name and turned with a smile toward the beautiful red-haired girl who was walking toward him.

"Hullo Ginny." he said.

She smiled at him, "There you are, I was starting to think you'd forgotten."

He turned and held out an arm to her, "Never, shall we go in then?"

She took his arm with a quiet giggle and they walked into the cafe for their date.

They were just sitting down when a silvery patronus swept up in front of them. They froze their smiles slowly fading off their faces. The small hawk-like bird turned to Harry, "The demon prisoners have escaped, all Aurors are ordered to return to the ministry to help with the search." It stated before fading away.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other in alarm. "Ron was on duty wasn't he?" Ginny asked fearfully.

Harry nodded, "Let's go."

* * *

When they arrived at the ministry they saw a small crowd of witches and wizards gathering in.

"Harry! Ginny!" They turned to see Hermione and Ron jogging toward them.

"Ron, you're okay!" Ginny exclaimed in relief.

Ron looked confused, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"When they said the prisoners had escaped we thought you were probably hurt since you were guarding today." Harry explained quickly.

"Oh no, it was Barrow and Johnson who were on guard when it happened. Lewis and I came to replace them and found them unconscious. None of the other prisoners saw anything, it seems that most of them were unconscious as well."

"But how could they have knocked out everyone else in the prison from inside their cell?" Ginny asked.

"Who knows, they are demons after all."

Before they could respond to Ron's comment Minister Kingsley stepped forward and the crowd turned to hear what he had to say.

"As you all know by now the three demons that were being held in Azkaban have escaped. We are unsure if they managed it themselves or if someone from the outside helped them. Regardless finding the leaders behind the recent demon attacks is now top priority for all Aurors. The details will be worked out shortly and formal raids and searches organized, until then if you see or hear anything that may lead us to the culprits inform the ministry immediately!" With that the minister dismissed them.

Hermione glanced at her three friends, "I'm going to see if I can find any information on demon abilities that put people to sleep." She said determinedly, and started toward the library, the others following close behind.

"It's too bad there isn't a way to just track the demon's magic." Ginny said thoughtfully. "Kind of like the trace on under-aged wizards."

Harry froze, "Hermione, is there a way to track demon magic?"

She looked thoughtful, "I don't know, I think I remember reading something about demons using a specific type of magic, so there may be. I need to look through the old tomes again."

She rushed off leaving the others behind.

* * *

"So this place is called Hogwarts huh? Dumb name." Yusuke commented as he and Kurama approached the huge stone castle.  
The fox demon threw him a sideways look but otherwise didn't respond. Yusuke took this as permission to continue his train of thought.

"I mean think about it, hogs and warts. Why would you want to name a place after hogs and warts? Especially a school.  
Unless the people who built it hated schools, but then why build it in the first place? It just doesn't make sense."

Kurama sighed slightly, "Wizards aren't really known for their sense Yusuke."

"Well obviously, no one with any sense would ever try to kidnap Hiei. You or me maybe," He ignored Kurama's dark look, "but definitely no one in their right mind would ever deliberately aim for Hiei."

They finally reached the large doors of the castle, effectively bringing the topic to an end. Kurama went to knock, but before he could the doors opened. A tall, stern-looking woman stood in the entryway. She eyed the hanyous with suspicion before speaking.

"Yes, may I help you?" She asked briskly.

Kurama stepped forward, bowing slightly, "Hello, are you by chance Headmistress McGonagall?"

She nodded, "I am."

"My name is Kurama Minamino, I'm traveling the world learning about different types of magical plants and I was wondering if I could have a tour of your greenhouses. The people I've spoken with all agree that your school has an uncommonly good sample of the types of magical plants in this region."

The Headmaster studied them for a moment, but couldn't find a reason to suspect they were up to anything besides what they had told her. "My herbology teacher and her assistant are in the greenhouses right now, you can ask them if they'd be willing to show you around. The greenhouses are around the west side of the building."

Kurama bowed again and thanked her and the two hanyous began the long walk around the outside of the castle.

* * *

They found the greenhouses without too much trouble. The herbology teacher, Professor Sprout, was preparing lesson plans; but said her assistant, a boy only slightly older than Yusuke named Neville, could show them around and discuss the plants with Kurama.

Yusuke followed Kurama and Neville toward the first greenhouse. He scanned the surrounding grounds restlessly as the two older boys talked about plants. he was bored nearly out of his mind. So far there had been absolutely no action on this mission and he was starting to get antsy.  
Movement near the eves of the dark forest that bordered a good third of the school grounds caught his eye. He squinted, looking closer; several black skeletal creatures were walking just inside the tree-line.  
He turned toward the kitsune, "Oi Kurama,"

The two plant nerds stopped their conversation and looked at him questioningly.

"I'm going to go check out that forest, see if there's anything interesting." He said gesturing at it.

Kurama shrugged, "Alright, try not to get into too much trouble."

Yusuke grinned and started to jog toward the forest.

"I don't think that would be a very good idea." Neville's words stopped him in his tracks.

He turned, "Why not?"

"The Forbidden Forest is extremely dangerous. There are all sorts of creatures in there that would attack you without a second thought." The older boy explained.

Yusuke snorted, "I don't think that'll be a problem, it sounds like fun."

He turned back, ignoring Kurama's pointed glare. He knew what the Kitsune was thinking, _A normal human wouldn't be so blaise about danger Yusuke! Blah blah blah._ but he was BORED and if something did attack him, which he doubted most magical creatures knew better than to attack something as powerful as an S-class demon; it would be a good workout.

"At least stop by Hagrid's first," Neville said hurriedly, seeing that the short-tempered Japanese visitor wasn't going to change his mind. "He can show you some of the creatures and then Kurama and I can join you when we go in to look for some of the native plants that we don't have in the greenhouses."

Yusuke scowled, he did NOT want to wait around for a 'tour' of the forest, he wanted to find out what those skeletal things were and possibly find something to fight. He opened his mouth to say something along those lines, but stopped when Kurama caught his gaze with a warning look. With an internal sigh he agreed and headed toward this Hagrid's hut.  
But not without a detour, the small herd of creatures was heading in roughly the same direction and as long as he reached the hut before the other two he would be fine. As he neared the strange creatures he was able to make out that they looked vaguely like black skeleton horses, except with huge leathery wings. They looked up as he approached, and of the largest ones stepped forward to meet him.

"Well hello there," he said quietly, "What exactly are you?"

"Ther' called Thestrals."  
Yusuke jumped as a loud voice spoke from behind him, mentally kicking himself for not being more aware of his surroundings. The speaker was a small mountain of a man, with a huge snarly beard and mop of hair. Yusuke blinked up at him for a moment before turning back to the thestral that was still watching him.

"Thestrals huh? Weird name."  
He reached out a hand inviting the thestral to come closer, it sniffed at his palm for a moment before butting its head against him. He reached up and began to scratch behind its ears and it leaned into him, clearly enjoying the feeling.

The big man came up next to him. "He seems to like you, now what're you doin' out in the forest? I don' think yer a student, and I don't recognize you from the staff of the school."

Yusuke shrugged, "My cousin's here learning about plants and I got bored and saw these guys and decided to come check them out."

"Ah, and what's yer name?"

"Yusuke, yours?"

"Hagrid."  
Another thestral wandered over, apparently curious as to what was going on, Hagrid patted it absently on the flank as he watched Yusuke's interaction with the thestral's curiously.

"Ya know, most people don't seem to get along with thestrals too well." He commented, "They're scared of 'em cause o' the whole death thing."

Yusuke looked over curiously, "What death thing?"

"Well, ye' see, only people who've seen death can see thestrals; it gives 'em a bad rep, even though ther mostly harmless."

Yusuke snorted, "I don't think anything with teeth like that would be considered harmless."  
He pointed at one of the small heard who had just yawned, displaying long pointed fangs.

"Well they don't really bite people unless they're threatened see?" Hagrid protested.

"Yusuke shrugged, "Whatever, So if you're Hagrid I'm supposed to meet my cousin and Neville at your hut whenever they're done with the tour of the greenhouses. Neville doesn't want us going through the forest without you for whatever reason."

"Well if yer interested in magical creatures I got a few more over there you could take a look at."  
Yusuke shrugged again and turned to follow the large man through the forest.

* * *

He was throwing food at the blast-ended skrewts and snickering as he watched them fight over the larger pieces when Kurama and Neville finally arrived. Hagrid and Kurama spoke for a few minutes, then Hagrid agreed to give them a brief tour of the forest.

Yusuke ignored most of it, and instead amused himself by tracking which plants Kurama connected to his information network, and where he threw what seeds. He noticed as the walked along the edge that small sprite-like creatures were peaking from the tops of many of the trees. When asked, Hagrid called them bowtruckles. Yusuke saw Kurama eying them with considerable interest, maybe he would be able to use them in his information network, Yusuke mused as they walked. Plant creatures, plant master, it would probably work.

The sun was setting when they finally finished and left the castle. They returned to their room in the Leaky Cauldron and turned in for the night. Hopefully they would hear something soon and be able to get this mission over with.

* * *

Hiei pushed at the barrier, it was weakening again. He didn't know how long he had been fighting the strange power that kept his body in a sleeping state; it seemed that no matter how many times he found a way to subvert it, the barrier reapplied or strengthened its-self again. He felt the Jagan's power pulsing, fighting against the foreign restraints.

He flexed him mind again, coordinating it with a surge of power from the Jagan. Something gave, and suddenly he was conscious! His eyes flew open, the red almost glowing as his power rushed back. He heard the sound of frantic chanting and tried to look up to find the source of the sound. He felt chains holding him down. With a snarl he flared his youki, the flames biting through and melting the chains.

He leaped to a crouch and glared around; he saw a large group of humans wearing long black robes and skull-like masks standing in a circle around him, all of them chanting in a strange language. He could sense the power gathering around them and being directed toward him. It gathered in the circle of runes that surrounded him and he felt it pushing against his mind, trying to turn his youki against its-self and put him back to sleep. He concentrated through the haze of power and used the Jagan to send a pulse of energy through the flow from the humans, directing it back at them.  
Several of the humans fell back with cries of pain and he smirked as the flow of power weakened. A flicker of movement to his left caught his attention. A man pulled a strange-looking amulet out of a hidden pocket in his robe. He spoke firmly and Hiei's eyes widened as he recognized the language of Rekei. The power suddenly intensified, laced with "Holy power" the antithesis of youki. It rushed over him, strengthened by the power circle and forced his mind back and his body to sleep.  
He felt chains reappear around him as the chant changed and the restraining barrier fell back into place, cutting off his sense of his surroundings. He cursed internally as he began once again the process of subverting the barrier. Next time he regained consciousness, he would be sure that any human within the reach of his power died.

* * *

Achan stood back as the chant died. The demon had been contained once again, but it had managed to regain consciousness and somehow caused several of his followers to lose consciousness. This was getting too dangerous, the creature had been fighting more strongly, and the spells holding it now had to be renewed every few hours. He stalked away from the underground cell angrily. How dare that creature defy them so frequently! It was a demon, barely capable of conscious thought, there was no way it could defeat them, and yet it continued to do just that. He glanced at the amulet in his hand, the ritual to bind the creature's will was ready. They merely needed to secure a blood sacrifice, but he new exactly where to find one. it was part of the reason he'd chosen the place that he did. If they could just keep the demon contained for a few more hours there would be no stopping their glorious work.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry about not updating in so long. my creativity has been non-existent for several weeks now. But hopefully that's over and I'll be able to get the next chapter out fairly quickly.

As always, please Review. I love constructive criticism and random comments alike.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Disclaimer: See prologue**

* * *

The dormitory was dark and the students slept deeply, unaware of the danger that was lurking nearby. The wizard slipped up next to the bed of a first-year boy. He knew from their informant from the ministry that this particular child was a muggle-born. He cast a silent stunner at the sleeping boy to ensure he remained unconscious, then grabbed hold of the child and activated the portkey that would take them to where the ritual would take place.

* * *

Achan paced back and forth as his followers painstakingly drew the spell circle on the ground of the clearing. Just as they were finishing a sharp popping sound and a dull thump indicated the arrival of a portkey. He turned and saw one of his followers approach with an unconscious figure floating beside him. They had their sacrifice! In a haze of excitement he shouted out instructions and the wizards and witches in the clearing burst into motion, finishing up the last of the preparations for the spell. When all was ready Achan sent his two most powerful followers to bring the demon.

* * *

Hiei paused for a moment in his efforts to fight the magic holding him unconscious. Something was happening, he could feel magic gathering around him. He snarled inwardly and redoubled his efforts. He didn't know what the humans were planning but he didn't want any part in it.

* * *

Yusuke was startled from sleep by a hand on his shoulder. Kurama blocked the instinctive punch the younger hanyou threw at him.  
"They're starting the ritual, we need to get to the forest now!"

Yusuke stared at him a moment, uncomprehending, then his eyes widened and he leapt up scrambling for his clothes.

"Where are they? How do you know they're starting? Where the hell is my translation chain?" he asked in rapid fire as he dressed.

"The forest of Hogwarts, my sentinel plants told me, and don't bother with the chain we won't be needing to speak English." Kurama responded hurriedly. "Now come on."

They snuck out of the room they had rented in Hogsmede and began to run.

They reached the forest edge in a little more than a half an hour. Kurama was only half focused on their surrounding as he listened to the warnings given off by the sentinel plants he had spread through the forest. He cursed under his breath, "There's too much magic wherever they are, it's confusing the signal."

"So now what? We can't search the entire forest on foot." Yusuke demanded.

Before Kurama could answer a faint rustling of wings announced the arrival of several Thestrals. The horse-like creatures landed in front of them, and the leader nudged Yusuke and turned slightly. Yusuke looked at it in confusion, "Nani...?"

"I think it wants you to ride it, Yusuke." Kurama said.

Yusuke glanced at him then back at the thestral, "Do you know where they are boy? can you take us there?"

The thestral snorted impatiently and nudged him again. Yusuke shrugged and climbed on. Another thestral stood near Kurama and allowed the fox demon to mount it. Then the herd took off heading for a clearing near the center of the forest.

* * *

Achan smiled wildly in triumph as the magic circle pulsed with power, soon the demon would be his to control and there would be no stopping them. He drew the knife that he held in his hand and dropped the sheath onto the ground. The now conscious child was bound with enchanted chains, and he fought against his restraints as Achan stepped toward him, knife gleaming in the flickering firelight.

* * *

Yusuke saw a crazy-looking man stepping toward a kid who was chained down and didn't bother to look any further. With a savage cry he leapt off the back of the still-flying thestral, changing into his demon for in mid-air, and tackled the man. The wizards surrounding the circle faltered in surprise at the sudden appearance of a long=hair, demon radiating pure power. Then panic swept through their ranks as the plants around them began to grow at an unnatural speed, climbing up the wizards robes and entangling those who didn't run fast enough. The magic circle pulsed then started to fade as the chant directing it came to a halt.

* * *

There, a weak point! Hiei hurled all his strength toward the weakness in the magic that contained him. It resisted for a moment, then shattered. He was free!  
Around him was chaos. He stood and scanned his surroundings taking in a chain-bound boy, Yusuke fighting off a few low-class demons trying to get at a wizard just beside him, about half of the surrounding wizards fighting off overgrown plants around them, the other half running about casting spells, or grabbing for portkeys. He sensed Kurama's power in the plants, although he couldn't see the fox anywhere. Most of the demons were preoccupied with Yusuke, although some had become entangled in plants. Still it seemed that the two hanyous had left some of the wizards and a few low-class demons for him to deal with. With a feral snarl Hiei pulled out his katana, which the foolish wizards had been unable to take from him, and attacked.

* * *

McGonagall woke with a start, something was not right. As Headmistress of the school she was aware of the boundaries and protections set in place and one had just alerted her to a magical flare that could not have been produced by any of the students. Throwing on a dressing robe she hurried to the fireplace and called the other heads of house telling them to account for their students. There was danger on the grounds.

* * *

Yusuke fought off the last low-class demon that had suddenly appeared and attacked him, and lunged toward the wizard, only for him to grab an object off the ground and vanish. Yusuke cursed, he must have used a port-key. He glanced around, saw that Kurama and Hiei had the rest of the dark wizards and lower class demons under control, and turned to the chained boy. He grabbed the kid, who stared up at him in terror, and ripped the chains apart. The boy jumped up and backed away hurriedly. Yusuke grabbed him before he could get too far then turned toward his two companions.

"So what do we do with this one?" He asked gesturing to the kid.

"First things first," Kurama said, "we should break the mind control on the low-classes." He turned to Hiei, "Is that within the Jagan's capability?"

Hiei glared at him, "Hn, if the low-classes can't break it themselves let them stay trapped." he said, "it's not our problem."

"What do you mean not our problem? You couldn't break free by yourself!" Yusuke protested.

"Actually I did break free of their magic myself." The fire apparition replied smugly.

"You broke free by taking advantage of the distraction we provided Hiei," Kurama cut in calmly, "And since Enki sent us here to free ALL the yokai who had been summoned it is our problem. So if you would..."

Hiei glared at the kitsune for a moment then turned sharply toward the unconscious yokai whom they had piled in the center of the clearing. Yusuke could sense the strange reiki that was gathered around them waver and then vanish completely. The demons began to stir as they woke up.

Kurama nodded, "Thank you Hiei, now we just need to send them back."

"Oy, you lot!" Yusuke snapped at the demons, "you were all summoned and held under the control of an insane wizard, we freed you and Enki said to get you all back to Makai. The nearest portal is about forty kilometers due West. Go find it, and if you cause any trouble on the way I will personally hunt you down, got it?"

They nodded and began heading in the direction he had indicated; in a few minutes the three former tantei were alone in the clearing with a several unconscious wizards and a very nervous twelve-year-old boy.

"Right, so now what do we do with these?" Yusuke asked turning to the others.

"Wipe the brat's memory and drop him off at the nearest wizard building." Hiei said impatiently, "Then question the others until they tell us where to find their leader."

Kurama studied the boy with a measured gaze before nodding, "That may be the best course of action." He stepped toward the student who tensed.

A sudden surge of power nearby brought the three demons up short. A light was approaching from above the trees Kurama squinted at it and cursed.

"It's the wizards from the school. we need to get out of here."

Yusuke grabbed one of the unconscious wizards and threw him over his shoulder and dashed into the trees. Kurama grabbed the boy and threw a handful of pollen into his face then followed after the toushuin, with Hiei close behind leaving the student coughing behind them.

* * *

**Author's Note: So I have no real excuse, other than I'm really bad at making time to write when I'm not sitting on a bus for an hour. But here's the next chapter. Lots of changing points of view on this one, I hope it's not too confusing. If it is please tell me and I'll try to edit it and make it clearer. Please review, Even if it's just two words.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Obligatory disclaimer is in the first chapter. It applies to the whole story in case you hadn't guessed that by now.**

* * *

Hiei paced around the small room impatiently. The wizard they had captured was too terrified of them to speak clearly and had been babbling for the past two days straight. They were in the mansion that the crazy wizards, as Yusuke had dubbed them, had abandoned, but it seemed they would need to find another source of information if they wanted to stay ahead of the wizard government on the investigation.

"Oy Hiei, quit pacing would ya?" Yusuke called over irritably. "It's annoying!"

The fire demon turned toward him with a snarl. "Then don't watch." he turned on his heel and kept pacing.

"ooooiiiiy, Hiieeeiii." Yusuke drew out the words in annoyingly sing-song voice causing Hiei to grit his teeth together.

"What?" He snapped.

"You want to spar? It's not like Kurama needs our intimidation factor to continue the interrogation."

The fire demon looked at the toushin, "Hn, fine." He darted out of the mansion, reaching a nearby open clearing in seconds. He pulled out his katana and began working through a few basic katas as he waited for the younger demon to catch up. This would be a good way to pass the time.

* * *

The leaky Cauldron was busy as usual. Harry, Ron, and Ginny sat around a small table with a few other Aurors listening to what Hermione's research had uncovered.

"So Demons are much more common in the east, and they do use a specific type of magic. The most common term for it is Youki, stemming from the Japanese word for demon: Youkai. Most wizards seem unable to tell the difference between Youki and regular magic. In the east there are people called 'psychics' who can, and according to the research I've done on international relations, psychics are usually on fairly good terms with wizards, especially in Japan. Unfortunate there hasn't been a psychic living in Britain since before Voldemort first came to power; and I don't know if we have time to contact the eastern ministries, ask them to get into contact with a psychic and then ask the psychic to come help us find the demons. That could take weeks, even months! But it seems like our only course of action..." She trailed off with a sigh.

The other didn't say anything, the wizards that had been captured at the Hogwarts attack three days earlier hadn't been able to tell them much. Apparently their leader, a man they only knew as 'Lord Achan' had only told them what he deemed they needed to know and the previous base they had been using had been abandoned before the Aurors got there, leaving no clues behind as to where they had gone. The wizards couldn't even name other people involved in the plot, because like Voldemort's followers, everyone wore masks.

How the wizards had been defeated before the teachers of Hogwarts had even arrived was still a mystery. The captured wizards could only say that the forest attacked them and the 'powerful demon' must have broken loose. The student who had been kidnapped seemed to have had his memory wiped somehow and couldn't add any clues. The plants surrounding the area had seemed unusually large and grown in strange ways, and there were signs of a struggle, but no one on the ministry seemed to be able to guess at what had happened.

There was the added concern that an apparently extremely powerful demon was even now either in the control of the psychopathic Achan, or on the loose, biding its time until it attacked a nearby group of humans. Searches of the forbidden forest had revealed nothing of the whereabouts of any of the demons that seemed to have escaped Achan's control that night. The surprising lack of demon-related attacks on populated areas had thrown the department of magical creatures into confusion. All records of demons told of how they attacked and devoured any living thing at a whim, and there should have been several attacks by this time. Instead the creatures seemed to have vanished into thin air.  
As things stood, the ministry was desperate for a way to track down the demons before any more casualties could occur.

"Well I dunno why you'd need to go through all the bureaucracy, there're a couple a psychics staying here right now." Tom's voice jolted them out of their thoughts.

"What do you mean a couple of psychics?" Hermione asked sharply, turning to the older man, who was wiping down the bar a few feet away.

"Well they've actually been here for a few weeks, one of 'em's traveling the world learnin' about different types of magical plants, and 'is cousin tagged along outta boredom." He shrugged, "I dunno if they'd be able to track demons, but it can't hurt to ask 'em."

"Which room are they in?" Ron asked quickly standing, "let's go ask them!"

"Well they aren't here right now, they went out to meet a friend o' theirs a few days ago, but they should be back soon."

"Oh." Ron sat back down.

"How soon?" Harry asked, "We're kind of in a hurry to get this over with."

"Well they didn't say specifically, but it should be sometime today... Oh wait there they are!"

Tom pointed to the door which had just opened to admit three people. A tall young man with bright red hair entered first, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the darker lighting of the the pub. An average sized young man with black slicked-back hair and a cocky attitude followed laughing, while a very short young man with black hair that stuck up a good foot straight in the air stalked after them looking irritated.

Tom made his way toward the trio and intercepted them before they reached the stairs. He spoke to them for a moment, gesturing toward the table. The red head seemed to think over his words for a few moments before he nodded and led the way toward the group of wizards at the table.

"Hello," said the red-head pleasantly when he reached them, "My name is Kurama, these are my cousin Yusuke," The taller of the two nodded, "And our friend Hiei." The shorter one glared at them. "Tom said that you had a question about psychics?"

Hermione nodded, motioning for them to sit down, which they did. The cocky boy, Yusuke, turned his chair backwards before straddling it.

"Yes, I don't know what you've heard about the recent demon attack on muggle London. We're with the ministry and we're trying to track down the culprits but we have no leads. The research I've done seems to indicate that the easiest way to find them would be to track the demons' youki energy, but a spell hasn't been invented yet that can do that. I read that some psychics can do so and I was wondering if you could or if you knew anyone who could and would be willing to help us?"

* * *

Kurama's mind raced as he processed the wizard girl's rapid words. This could either work to their favor or be an enormous hindrance to their goals. By working with the British wizard ministry they would be privy to any and all information the wizards had and be able to stay a step or two ahead of them. However they would need to be increasingly cautious as to what information they gave them regarding demons to avoid being discovered themselves.

_'It'll be over faster if we work with them'_ Hiei's voice came in his mind. _'we only have to give them information regarding low-class demons, and if we're the ones doing the tracking we can keep our own heritage hidden from them easily. As opposed to if they called over a real psychic.'_

Kurama nodded mentally and Hiei stepped forward, catching the attention of the eager wizards.

"I can track demons fairly well." He told the wizards. "But I'll need more specifics before we get started."

* * *

**Author's Note: YAY another chapter!  
**

**So I just had my wisdom teeth out and used the recovery days to get this chapter done. Hopefully I can keep up my writing streak and get more chapters turned out soon.**

**Things are getting more interesting now. Will the wizards find out who the Japanese "psychics" really are?**

**As always please review, I love my reviews.**

* * *

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I am going to be going on an 18 month mission for my church beginning March 8th, and will not have access to the internet, or any means with which to write these fanfictions AT ALL during that time. I will hopefully be able to get a few more chapters out before then, maybe even finish the story, but I make no promises. So if come March 8th there has not been a further update to this story you may assume it is on hiatus until September 2017.**

**Apologies I will try my hardest to finish it before then.**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Hiei sat in the room scowling as his Jagan eye pulsed with power, searching for a wizard aura mixed with a demon aura. It should have been ridiculously easy to spot (tied auras tended to flare dramatically) but there were no leads. There were plenty of residual traces, especially in the area that had been attacked by the demon army and here, in the mansion the Aurors said was Achan's last base of operation.  
Hiei should have been able to find them. Even though they had left days ago, there should have been a trail. But there wasn't. Which left two options. 1) Achan had somehow found a way to cloak their energy, which was unlikely since wizards couldn't sense energy in the first place. or 2) All of the demons he had summoned had escaped, which meant they'd have to wait for him to summon more, or Hiei would have to unravel the tangled mess of magic he had been studying to isolate the wizard's energy signature.

He tensed slightly as his wards indicated that someone was approaching. He was facing away from the door as a precaution, but he'd need to put the headband on quickly if one of the wizards decided to barge in. A moment later he recognized Kurama's energy and relaxed, sweeping the area again for any trail of where the wizards, and the scrolls, might have gone. A small part of his brain that wasn't focused on the search noted that Kurama had entered the room and was standing patiently against the door. After a few minutes he turned to the kitsune. "What?"

"I spoke with Enki, all the demons that had been summoned were freed; so looking for tied energy signals won't do us any good unless he tries another summoning."

Hiei cursed quietly. "Did you tell the wizards?"

"No. It would be difficult to explain where I got the information. Any luck on identifying Achan's energy signature?"

"Hnn, Perhaps. Give me another hour and I should have it."

Kurama nodded and quietly exited the room.

* * *

The mansions halls were gloomy and decrepit. Ron shivered as he hurried down the stairs, he slowed down on the third floor landing as faint voices caught his attention. He recognized the brash voice of Yusuke. He hesitated listening, he couldn't make out the words, but it seemed the Yusuke and Kurama were discussing something in hushed voices. There was something weird about the psychics. Hermione said it was just a cultural difference, but Ron hadn't grown up in the same house as the twins without developing a pretty good sense of when someone was hiding something from him. and the three psychics were definitely hiding something.

He glanced around guiltily, then pulled an extendable ear out of a pocket in his robes. He slipped into a room a few doors down from the one the voices were emanating from. and sent the ear toward it. If they weren't hiding anything he'd just not mention what he heard to anyone. but if the were, this would be a good way to find out. From what he could tell Yusuke wasn't as subtle as the other two there was a high chance he'd let something slip.

Ron plugged his end of the extendable ear into his ear and listened closely.

"...why Hiei can't just track the guy he's never had a problem finding people before. Except with Yukina but that was cause of the wards and the low-classes told Enki he didn't have any of those."

a sigh, "Hiei needs a known energy signature in order to track it at any distance. He's working on identifying it, but you'll need to be a bit more patient. Wizard energy is annoying to track apparently."

"Well he'd better hurry up if we want to keep those scrolls away from the wizards. We could definitely take them if it came down to it, but that wouldn't really be subtle."

"We'll have to proceed cautiously, just try not to do anything to rouse their suspicions?"

Ron started as he heard footsteps approaching from the lower levels. he yanked on the ear, retracting it and hiding it back in his pocket before he hurried out to meet whoever it was on the stairs.  
The psychics were hiding something. What were the scrolls they mentioned, and why were they so worried about wizards getting a hold of them if they were on good terms with the wizarding world like Hermione had said?

He needed to tell the others about this.

* * *

Hermione looked across the table at Ron, "Are you sure you're not jumping to conclusions? After all you only heard part of their conversation; and they didn't really mention Achan at all except in the context of Hiei finding him. If they were in league with him wouldn't they have some way to contact him?"

She, Ron, and Harry were sitting in Grimmould place, eating dinner, Ron had told them of the conversation he had overheard and that he thought the psychics were in league with Achan and the demons.

"Well that's just one theory. Maybe they aren't in league with him but they're obviously lying to us about something, and this situation is serious enough that we can't afford our trackers to be keeping things from us."

"You have a point about that." Harry stated. "Let's tell Kingsley what you heard and keep a closer eye on them, try to figure out what they're hiding before we act on it."

* * *

It had been three days since Ron had overheard the suspicious conversation between the Japanese psychics and they were still no closer to finding either Achan or what the psychics were hiding.

Harry and Ron had followed Yusuke when he stormed out of the mansion claiming he needed something to do besides sit around or he'd go crazy and to call him once they had a solid lead for him to track down. They hoped that his boredom would cause him to slip up and hint at what their secret was.

"That's another thing," Ron muttered to Harry, "Why bother trying to track Achan's energy at all. Obviously not many of the demons escaped or we would have heard something about attacks by now. It can't be that difficult to find a group of demons that big."

Before Harry could answer a huge crack echoed through the woods followed by an angry roar. The two Auror's looked at each other in alarm and hurried toward the sounds which had originated shortly in front of them, right where Yusuke should be.

They charged into a small clearing, wands out and ready to defend the psychic from whatever threat had appeared. Harry stopped short in shock and Ron ran into his back sending them both sprawling. The two wizards picked themselves up and stared in astonishment at the sight in front of them. Yusuke was openly laughing as he darted back and forth, dodging blows from the club of an enormous mountain troll.  
A nearby tree was split in half, it looked as if something had been thrown into it.  
The psychic jumped out of the way of the troll's foot and leaped upward, reaching it's head level. With a single devastating punch he knocked the creature over, the thump muffled by the surrounding underbrush.

Yusuke landed next to its head with surprising balance. "Che, barely a challenge." He muttered.

He turned and froze, his eyes widening slightly as his gaze landed on the two dumbstruck wizards. They stared at him with complete shock and a little bit of fear.

"Bloody Hell, You just took down a troll with a punch!" Ron gaped at him.

Yusuke winced internally, Kurama was not going to be happy.

* * *

Kurama tilted his head as he sensed Yusuke returning with two of the wizards. He didn't pay much attention to it, diverting most of his attention to the rabid-fire words coming from the young human in front of him. Hermione, he thought her name was, had been talking nearly non-stop about the similarities and differences between wizards' and psychics' abilities for the past day and a half; ever since she had gotten a hold of a book on the subject and decided that Kurama would be just the person to use as a cross-reference.  
He had decided to humor her, due mainly to the fact that she would have gone after Yusuke if he hadn't and that would not have ended well; but also because he knew she was trying to subtly get some sort of information from him, although he didn't know exactly what yet. Perhaps her attempts were subtle for a human, but compared to centuries of experience in deceit and information gathering, her intentions were glaringly obvious to the fox demon.

She stopped her tirade as her two friends and Yusuke entered the main hall of the mansion. Kurama turned to look at them, noting the wizards wary gazes resting on Yusuke, and the toushin's sheepish, slightly alarmed look, and groaned internally.  
Hermione had also apparently noticed the new wariness in her friends and her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she eyed Yusuke.

She stood up as they approached the staircase the two had been seated on. "What happened?"

Ron glanced at Yusuke then back to them. "Yusuke ran into a troll."

Kurama closed his eyes for a moment, suppressing a sigh of exasperation, there was no way this situation would end well.  
He opened his eyes again and met Yusuke's apologetic gaze with a frustrated look as Hermione started firing questions at them.

"You don't look injured, how did you get away?" Hermione was asking.

Yusuke hesitated allowing Harry to cut in. "He took it out with his bare hands." The dark-haired wizard stated, still eyeing the toushin warily.

"With your bare hands.. But how...?" Hermione's confused and alarmed gaze turned to Kurama, who decided it was time to do some damage control.

"One psychic ability that doesn't seem to have been touched on in your book is combat skills." He began, mind racing as he decided how much he could tell them. "Because demons are more common in Japan most psychics there can not only sense them but also fight them. There are many Reiki techniques that can be used for combat. Yusuke prefers to flare his energy throughout his whole body, increasing speed, stamina, and strength, and allowing him to fight opponents that would normally be to strong for a human to best."

"Well there was a reference to what the book called Psychic Fighters," Hermione said hesitantly. "But they didn't..." She stopped, "I mean it didn't have much detail on them, so I never suspected they could be that strong. Are you sure you're not hurt?" She asked Yusuke again.

"Che, no." He responded, "It never even landed a hit."

Hermione nodded, then excused herself, the two wizards following close behind her.

Kurama watched them go with narrowed eyes. Once they were out of earshot he turned to Yusuke and slipped his translation charm off his wrist before saying in Japanese, "We're going to need to be even more careful, she didn't fully believe us."

* * *

"He was lying," Hermione stated as she paced the floor next to the kitchen table in Grimmould place. "The book did mention Rieki combat techniques, but even if Yusuke can use those techniques extremely well, he shouldn't have been able to take down a fully grown mountain troll that easily, especially considering how young he is."

She sat down next to them with a huff. "They're hiding things from us."

"It's a bit off though don't you think." Ron said.

The other two looked at him.

"What's off?" Harry asked.

"Well the fact that they just happened to be in England when a bunch of demons were summoned," Ron said, his forehead crinkled in thought. "and they were snooping around Hogwarts a few days before Achan showed up there. Not to mention that the dark wizards the ministry captured said that the super powerful demon they had captured, the one that probably escaped, looked like a short bloke with spiky black hair. And they just happened to be meeting a short, spiky-haired friend not two days after the demon escaped."

Hermione stared at Ron incredulously, "You're right," She gasped, "And didn't they also say that the plants attacked them? And Kurama specializes in magical plants..."

Ron was nodding, "And Yusuke said something about Hiei not being able to find someone in the past cause of wards. Maybe anti-demon wards..."

Harry looked at his two closest friends. "So you think Hiei is actually the really powerful demon they summoned, and the other two are somehow involved with demons. Is there any way to prove it?"

"WE can test whether or not Hiei's a demon." Hermione said.

"How?"

"Demon wards. We'll expose him to them and if they react, we'll know."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Slightly longer chapter this time. One or two more chapters and the story should be over.**

**Please Review, I write faster when I have reviews.**

* * *

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I am going to be going on an 18 month mission for my church beginning March 8th, and will not have access to the internet, or any means with which to write these fanfictions AT ALL during that time. I will hopefully be able to get a few more chapters out before then, maybe even finish the story, but I make no promises. So if come March 8th there has not been a further update to this story you may assume it is on hiatus until September 2017.**

**Apologies I will try my hardest to finish it before then.**


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: See Prologue**

_'telepathy'_

_"Japanese"_

* * *

Harry walked across the room, trying to maintain a casual air. Hiei sat with his eyes closed on the windowsill in front of him. He appeared to be asleep, but Harry was cautious anyway. If their hunch was right, and Hiei was a demon, the last thing he wanted was to anger him before the wards took effect; especially since aside from himself and Ron, who was standing watch outside the door, there were no other wizards in this area of the building. Hermione had said that these particular wards would create a barrier that would only block demons. She said it would be a good way to both test if he was a demon, and contain him if it turned out they were right.

Harry stopped shortly in front of the window. He took a deep breath and pulled the wards out from his pocket, he whispered the activation phrase and threw the scrap of paper down between himself and Hiei.

The moment the wards had come out Hiei's eyes had flashed open, the smaller boy darted forward, but was stopped short by a crackling wall of energy. He twisted to face Harry, and a feral snarl ripped from his throat.  
Harry stepped back a pace, unnerved by the sudden ferocity. Hiei scanned the room quickly, sent a final glare in his direction then jumped back onto the windowsill. He shoved the window open and started out only to be repelled by the energy again. He growled and a crackling aura surrounded him. Harry watched in amazement as the energy wall containing the small demon shattered, sending tendrils of lightning lancing through the air. Then with a black blur, Hiei vanished.

* * *

Kurama was startled from his thoughts when he sensed a huge spike in Hiei's Youki. Seconds later he heard the smaller demon's voice in his head.  
_'They know I'm a demon, Get Yusuke and meet me at the other hideout.'_

The fox demon stood quickly and, pausing to grab the small bags holding their supplies, hurried out the door and toward the stairs. But his path was blocked by Hermione. One look at her face and he knew she had something to do with whatever had exposed Hiei.  
His eyes narrowed as he watched her shift nervously, "Can I help you?" he questioned, his voice coolly polite.

"Where are you going?" she asked her eyes on the bags he had slung over his shoulder.

"We're following another lead." He lied blandly

"No, we were right weren't we?" she said in quiet, almost horrified voice. "Hiei's a demon, he's the powerful one Achan summoned who escaped. You helped escape, you and Yusuke, and you're both in league with demons!"

Her wand was out now, pointing at him in a slightly trembling hand.

Kurama eyed her, his face an emotionless mask. "Very good, Miss Granger, mostly correct. And now if you would allow me to pass.."

"No, you're going to stay and answer our questions."

He smiled, completely humorless, "No, Miss Granger, I'm not."

He feinted to the side then rushed past her, striking a quick knockout blow to the back of her neck as he passed. He heard her crumple to the ground, a spell half-formed on her lips. He could hear shouting on the floors below him now, apparently word had spread. He dashed to the nearest window and quietly opened it. His Youki flowed into the ivy that clung to the wall, strengthening it as he climbed down. He dashed toward Yusuke's Youki signature which emanated from a clearing a short distance into the forest. The toushin was balancing from one finger on a narrow rock.

"Yusuke," The younger boy glanced up at him, sweat dripping off his face and into his eyes as he squinted up at the kitsune, "They found out Hiei's a demon. He'll meet us at the other manor." Kurama tossed Yusuke's bag to him. "Let's go."

* * *

Kingsley sat at his desk looking the three remarkable young people who had already contributed so much to the wizarding world with something close to exhaustion on his face.

"You didn't think it might be a good idea to let me know what you were planning?" He asked them.

The three of them flushed slightly.

"We didn't want to bother you if it turned out we were wrong." Hermione said quietly.

The minister sighed. "I realize that you've grown used to figuring things out just the three of you. But I can't have you going behind my back like that. How were you going to explain your actions if it turned out Hiei wasn't a demon?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably, "We didn't really think that far." He admitted.

"Right, well what's done is done. I've already informed the other Aurors involved about what you found, but I would appreciate it if next time you would come to me with your suspicions BEFORE acting on them."

They nodded, chastised, and he dismissed them from his office.

* * *

Achan watched critically as his followers finished the last line of the summoning circle. He nodded, everything was ready. The remaining wizards and witches gathered around the edges of the circle. There were fewer of them now, some had been captured by the ministry, some had been killed by the escaped demon, and a few had tried to leave. They had been killed.

His remaining followers were either dedicated to their cause, or too afraid to leave. Either way, Achan knew they would do as he said. At his signal they began the chant to summon the demons. This time, he had decided they would summon the strongest demons he could control. He knew the ministry would be searching for him, so there wasn't time to rebuild the full army.

'We must hurry, the work must be completed!' he thought to himself frantically. A small army of very powerful demons would have to suffice.

There was a flash of light and the first demon appeared. It was small and weasel-faced, with a cunning look in it's eyes. Achan stepped forward with the amulet, binding the creature to his will with the expertise gained with the previous army. In three days time they should have enough numbers to attack the ministry.

* * *

In the demon world an ogre-like demon was crouched beside a recent kill, readying himself to eat. He felt an all-to-familiar sensation of being sucked inside out. He groaned, "Not again." Then the spell transported him to a hidden cave in the human world. He looked up, saw the amulet and heard the binding words, and his will vanished.

* * *

Harry, looked up as a small paper airplane flew into his cubicle and landed on his desk. He picked it up and scanned the contents, then jumped to his feet and hurried toward Kingsley's office. When he arrived most everyone who had been involved in the search for the demon army was already there.

"Alright." Kingsley began, "One of the witches we captured finally decided to talk in return for a reduced sentence. She told us about a cave that Achan may be using to summon the demons. We'll be raiding the cave in two hours. Get ready, if you have any information you think I don't yet have that could be useful report it at once. Dismissed.

* * *

Yusuke dodged, and the green vine snapped where had been standing a moment before. He fired a quick, low-level blast, but his aim was thrown off as he had to dodge again, this time the vine wrapped around his arm, yanking him off balance and knocking him to the ground where the grass quickly grew and tangled around him. Kurama glanced down at the smoking stump that had once been a small tree, and the twenty-odd similarly damaged plants that surrounded them, then back at the toushin who was still sprawled on the ground, struggling against the overgrown grass blades that were holding him down.

"Do you have something against bushes Yusuke?" The kitsune asked lightly, releasing his Youki and letting his opponent up.

Yusuke snorted, pushing himself to his feet. "Only when I'm sparring you. You think Hiei's found anything yet?"

"I'm sure when he does he will notify us." Kurama answered.

Yusuke grimaced, "Well he better hurry, I want to get back to Japan. England is weird."

Kurama opened his mouth to respond then hid a smile as Hiei appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and Yusuke sprawled backward in surprise.

Hiei smirked, then turned to Kurama. "He's summoned and bound more demons. Do you want to attack now or should we make a plan?"

Yusuke stepped forward. "Attack now, we don't know when the wizards will find him."

Kurama pondered for a moment, internally smirking at Yusuke's impatient foot-tapping. "We'll go observe, see what we're up against, and if the wizards have found them yet, and then make a plan."

Hiei nodded curtly and started off, the other two close behind.

* * *

The gathered Aurors surrounded the cave entrance as quietly as they could manage. Harry could see two huge demons standing as guards at the entrance to the cave complex. Only invisibility cloaks and various hiding charms kept the Aurors from being seen.  
They crept forward, closing in the circle. A breeze swept through the wooded area and one of the demons stiffened. It looked up, sniffing the air, then turned to face upwind. It growled something to the other demon, who sniffed in turn then snarled as it turned in a slow circle.  
Harry felt a sinking in his stomach, of course the demons would be able to smell them!

* * *

"Hn, the wizards let him catch their scent. Foolish." Hiei muttered from his perch in a tree.  
His voice barely carried to Kurama and Yusuke's ears from where they were hiding behind a plant screen Kurama had grown to hide behind and to mask their scents.

Yusuke glanced at Kurama, "I still can't see them."

"Use your sixth sense Yusuke, feel their magic." The kitsune muttered distractedly.

The forest was still again, except for the faint rustle-crunch of the wizards trying to be sneaky. Suddenly one of the demon guards lept forward blindly, his flailing right arm caught one of the wizards, knocking him back and breaking the spell that had hidden him.

* * *

The moment Smith was knocked down, the Aurors' abandoned stealth and lept forward. Harry raced next to Ron and Hermione, combining his spells with theirs. They had learned during the attack on muggle London that this was the only way they would have any affect on the demons.  
The two demon guards were quickly taken down, the noise had alerted the others demons, but they seemed slow to react. The Aurors dashed forward into the caves, staying in groups and covering each other as the raced to apprehend the witches and wizards who were part of this plot.

They were taken by surprise, and there were much fewer of them now. Only ten or twelve. Against the twenty-odd Aurors they stood little chance. The demons were another matter.

Harry was dimly aware of Hermione breaking away from him and Ron to run to the far end of the cave. For whatever reason there were no demons in the section, even though the rest of the area was crowded. Before he could contemplate her actions however, his attention was drawn away from what she was doing by a small rabbit-like demon leaping at him. He and Ron both fired stunners at it and it fell back, but stood up again shaking its head irritably.

* * *

Kurama watched as the dark wizards and witches were quickly taken down, except for Achan who was hanging back. The Aurors seemed to be having more trouble getting past the demons. They were apparently still under the control of Achan, who was using them as a shield while he attempted to escape.

At an unspoken signal, the three demons stepped in.

Hiei and Yusuke immediately went for Achan, dodging easily around the demons who tried to stop them. Yusuke tackled the dark wizard and yanked the control amulet out of his hand.  
He handed it to Hiei who glared at it, then threw it to Kurama. "It's disarmed." He said unnecessarily, as the surrounding low-class demons stopped fighting the wizards and drew back in confusion.

The wizards didn't seem to notice the change however and continued attacking. The demons quickly shook off their surprise, if there was one thing demons knew and understood, it was fighting. They quickly rallied, driving the human wizards back.

Kurama sighed, _"M__attaku."_

With a jolt of energy, plants raced along the cave floor, tangling in the wizards legs and causing them to trip, breaking off their attacks. Some of the demons looked as though they were going to continue fighting anyway, but a sharp growl from Yusuke stopped them in their tracks.

The toushin snapped a few commands to the demons in the most common Makai dialect. Directing them, as he had with the first group they had freed, to go to the nearest portal and return to the demon world. They obeyed, cowed by the strength of his unrestrained Youki.

Kurama tucked the amulet away and released the plants, allowing the wizards to scramble up. He stepped forward and speared a mental thought toward Hiei. _'Try to find the scrolls, I'll keep them busy.'_

He stepped forward, hands spread and slightly raised to show they were empty. Yusuke shadowed his movements while Hiei slipped into the back areas of the cave.

The Aurors not busy gathering together the stunned or otherwise incapacitated dark wizards and witches watched him suspiciously.

"What're you guys doing here?"

Kurama glanced toward the source of the hostile voice; Ron Weasley stepped forward, glaring daggers at the fox-demon.

"Hiei was finally able to track Achan's energy signature, so we decided to come investigate. When we saw you fighting the demons it seemed a good idea for us to lend a hand."

"Right, it had nothing to do with wanting to gain control of the demons yourselves!" Ron said sarcastically. "That's what you did isn't it? You somehow took control of the demons from Achan, why else would they all have left so suddenly."

"They left because they didn't want to be here in the first place." Yusuke cut in irritably. "They were snatched from whatever they were doing by that stupid summoning spell and forced to follow a total madman. Of course they'd want to leave when they were freed."

"So is that the real reason you came to Britain?"

The demons glanced over to where Hermione was standing near the edge of the cluster of Aurors.

"Sorry?" Kurama questioned.

"Well I think we've all guessed by now that You aren't really that interested in studying plants." She said.

"On the contrary, I find your regions' magical plants to be fascinating." He cut in.

She glared at him and he met her gaze with a slight smile.

"You came here because you somehow found out that Achan was summoning demons, so you came to free them." She said accusingly.  
"No matter that demons are known to be vicious creatures that attack people with absolutely no provocation, and so freeing them would be putting everyone nearby at risk."

"Well since you seem to have us all figured out, what now?" He asked a slight mocking note creeping into his voice.

She flushed.

"We want the truth." The assembled humans jumped slightly as the voice of the Minister came from behind them.  
"Why did you and Yusuke really come to England? What is your connection to Hiei, and why would you work with a demon? And why did you lie about why you were here? We want to know that you are not a threat."

Kurama thought quickly, trying to ascertain how much of the truth to tell them. To tell them everything would be foolish, witches and wizards were very arrogant when it came to their own supremacy, to reveal the truth about Makai and Rekai would only cause trouble. But they had obviously already figured out some things, and it would only deepen their suspicion to deny those facts.

"Ms. Granger was mostly right," he began, "We did come here because we learned that a wizard was summoning demons. It seemed like a good idea to ensure that whoever was summoning them did not complete whatever his plan was.  
"As you know demons are much more common in Asia than in Europe. As Psychics we have come to interact with them on a frequent basis. Yusuke and I have associated with Hiei many times in the past because he is less dangerous to humans and more reasonable than most other demons."

Behind him Kurama heard a muffled snort as Yusuke tried not to laugh at that bald-faced lie. He could also feel Hiei's glare boring into the back of his head, as the smaller demon silently protested the description. He sent a calming thought toward the fire apparition, asking him to play along.

"It is common knowledge that wizards are not very open-minded when it comes to non-wizards, let alone non-humans, and we decided to keep out true purpose hidden so as not to encounter unnecessary difficulties. We knew that once we released the demons most would be eager to return home, and those that weren't could be persuaded by Hiei. So there really wasn't much risk in releasing them."

The minister looked at him steadily, searching for traces of deception. But Kurama's face gave him none.

Yusuke broke the silence, "Look, if we hadn't shown up and taken care of the demons a lot more of your people would have been injured. Or killed. So can you give us the benefit of the doubt or something?"

Kingsley looked over them, then nodded decisively. "You did help us, even if you weren't completely honest." He glanced at the assembled Aurors, "Let's get back to the ministry, there are prisoners to take care of and reports to file."  
With a loud Crack, he disapparated.

The Aurors followed his lead, some of them hesitating to cast a suspicious look at the three Japanese visitors. Once they were alone, Kurama turned as Hiei flashed into view beside him. "The scrolls?"

"Not here." The shorter demon bit out harshly.

"What?" Yusuke blurted out. "How could they not be here!?"

He strode to the table that was pushed to one side of the cave and began ruffling through it.

"It's no use," Hiei told him, "I searched the entire complex, They're not here."

"The wizards must have taken them." Yusuke fumed.

"We cannot allow those scrolls to remain in human hands." Kurama stated, "We'll have to get into the ministry's headquarters somehow, and retrieve or destroy them."

* * *

**Author's note:Yay for longer chapters!  
**

**One chapter left. I'll be writing like crazy to get it done before I leave, so wish me luck.  
**

* * *

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I am going to be going on an 18 month mission for my church beginning March 8th, and will not have access to the internet, or any means with which to write these fanfictions AT ALL during that time. I will hopefully be able to get a few more chapters out before then, maybe even finish the story, but I make no promises. So if come March 8th there has not been a further update to this story you may assume it is on hiatus until September 2017.**


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: See previous.**

* * *

Hermione bent over her desk in the dim light. She had waited until she was alone to look through the scroll. Despite the minister's lecture on going behind his back, she was wary of putting whatever information was on the scrolls into the ministry's hands. The psychics had said they wanted to prevent the wizards from getting a hold of the scrolls, and while they may have lied she had to admit that Kurama was right when he said that wizards were still very close-minded and supremacist in their attitudes toward non-humans. One only had to look at how centaurs, giants, and house-elves were treated to know that.  
She scanned the scrolls, slowly writing her interpretations on a piece of parchment. She was grateful she had continues to study ancient runes, they allowed her to read most of what was written, although she had to guess and infer the meaning of other words and symbols.  
She had only made her way through about two thirds of the first scroll, but it talked a lot about demon magic. How it worked, what it's weaknesses were, the different ways demons could use it. There was a small portion of it that looked like some sort of summoning ritual that would, tie? restrain? negate? She wasn't sure, but it would do something to the demon's magic, preventing them from killing the summoner.

She pulled out her notes on what the captured dark wizards had said. The trials weren't for another week and a half, but a few had claimed they would tell everything in return for leniency. Of course without using veritiserum, they couldn't be sure if they had told the truth, but she still thought it worthwhile to write down things that could be of importance.  
One of the wizards had indicated that the scrolls were key in summoning and controlling powerful demons, which matched up with what she had translated so far.

She put down her quill with a heavy sigh, and dropped her head into her hands. If the scrolls did have information on how wizards could control demons, she wasn't sure what she should do with them. If demons were sentient, and the way Kurama and Yusuke had spoken about them, as well as the surprisingly non-bloodthirsty way Hiei had acted indicated that that was the case, than she couldn't in good conscience give the scrolls to the ministry. There were too many people who could and would abuse that power.  
She already had a hard enough time fighting for house-elf rights, if the ministry decided to use the information to force demons to obey (all in the name of protecting innocent people of course). It would be nearly impossible to convince them that it might be morally wrong. All the research she had done said that demons were blood-thirsty monsters with absolutely no honor or conscience. But was that accurate? If demons were so common in Asia, wouldn't there constantly be news of demon attacks and such? Yet when she looked she could find barely any mention of them, except in old legends. The legends themselves didn't always seem to agree either. Sometimes the demons were monsters, sometimes heroes or helpmates. There didn't seem to be any hard and fast rule.

She shook her head briskly, this train of thought was going in circles. she simply did not have enough information. She pulled out her wand and waved it at the scrolls and her notes, disguising them in case anyone else looked through them. Then she got up and went to bed. She would sleep on the issue and look at it again in the morning, maybe she'd stumble upon the answer then.

* * *

Kurama leaned against a wall in the entrance hall of the new ministry of magic, seemingly staring at nothing. In reality he was keeping a close eye on the proceedings in front of him, as well as listening into a few 'private' conversations by way of some of his plants. It had been two days, but he had yet to hear anything regarding the scrolls. He wished for a moment that Hiei was there, to scan surrounding minds for information. But, as it turned out the ministry was protected by anti-demon wards. Wards that Kurama only managed to bypass by freezing and burying his youki behind his human blood. Luckily the wards only covered the entrances and did not effect him once he was inside which honestly was somewhat of a security flaw, he mused idly.

"Kurama?"

The voice caught him by surprise and he looked up. Hermione Granger was approaching him at a cautious pace.

He smiled as she drew near. "Hello Ms. Granger, what can I do for you?"

"What are you doing here? I thought you all returned to Japan." She said, a tone of slight suspicion in her voice.

He shrugged, "I'm curious to see the outcome of the trials."

"So why are you here today?"

"Well no one informed me of when they would be, I thought if I hovered long enough I'd hear something."

She eyed him for a moment, "They're a week from tomorrow." She told him. "But you probably won't be allowed to watch."

"Perhaps not, but the verdicts will likely be in the paper yes?"

She nodded slowly. "How did you get in here anyway? They would have checked you for a wand when you came in the visitors entrance and I'm fairly certain you don't have one."

"I came in the same way the employees did, through the toilets." He smirked at her. "Honestly with a bunch of robe-clad people lining up outside a lavatory and simply vanishing it's a wonder the non-magical humans haven't noticed you yet."

"There are spells to keep muggles from noticing. I'm surprised you saw through them."

He shrugged again, "guess they don't work on psychics."

He stood, brushing an imaginary spot of dirt off his pants leg and turned to leave. Now that his plants were integrated he should be able to access them from outside the building. Hopefully something about the scrolls would turn up before the trials, they really didn't want to stay that long.

"Wait..."

Kurama turned back, raising his eyebrow at her as she looked nervously at the ground. "Yes?"

"Your..." She took a breath as if steeling herself, "your friend Hiei, What is he really like?"

He studied her, a blank mask sliding across his face. "I'm not sure I understand the question."

"I mean, is he intelligent?"

His eyes narrowed imperceptibly, wondering where this was headed. "I think that was obvious from the way he searched for and found your rogue wizard." He replied neutrally.

The human girl in front of him flushed.

"No, I mean... That is, is he..." She took a deep breath, "Look all the studies I've read, every scholarly source of information I could find relating to demons claimed they were just bloodthirsty monsters incapable of real rational thought. But old legends, particularly those from Asia contradict that. And normally I wouldn't listen to a legend before, you know, something official, but Hiei did seem incredibly rational. And if you and Yusuke who have to work with demons a lot seemed to think it was safe to just let a bunch of them loose, than maybe all those books are wrong. But I'm not sure what to think.  
"So I guess I'm asking your thoughts on the matter. Are demons rational beings with intelligence on par with humans?"

Kurama was silent for a moment processing this. He sighed, "I wish I could tell you that they all are, but that's not quite the case. Demons have much stronger instincts than humans, which can oftentimes overrule their minds, especially amongst lower-class demons."

"Lower-class?" She interrupted.

"Lower-class demons are lower in power level, higher-class meaning higher power levels.  
"Higher-class demons are usually also more intelligent and more inclined to think rationally, but there are a large number who are not. Most of the ones Achan summoned were low-class, and some of them may have wanted to go on a rampage despite the King's orders; but they saw Hiei, and more importantly, they felt his power-levels. Only a very very stupid demon would go against another demon that much more powerful for them. So while most of them probably would have wanted to return home even if Hiei wasn't there, we felt confident his intimidation factor would cause those who were more violently inclined to obey."

"Wait, did you say they had a king?"

Kurama kept his face carefully blank, "Yes, the demons have a king, and he has told them that they are to behave themselves while in the human world."

"So demons are intelligent enough to have a government."

"yes."

Silence stretched between them as Hermione digested this information.

"One more thing."

"Yes?"

"Ron overheard you and Yusuke talking, it was that conversation that first made us suspicious of you actually, but he heard you mention scrolls. What was on the scrolls?"

Kurama tensed, mind racing. So that had been overheard, they must have forgotten to take their translation charms off. It explained their sudden suspicion well. Exactly what had been overheard, and what did she know about the scrolls? She seemed to be trying to determine something with her questions. He came to a decision, time to take a gamble.

"We believe that the scrolls may have contained the information Achan used to summon the demons. We were hoping to retrieve them in the hopes that we could keep that information from falling into the hands of those who would exploit demons for their own gain. But we have been unable to find them."

He watched her closely for a reaction to this information. She was gnawing on the inside of her lower lip as she thought. If his hunch was right, than the reason none of the ministry employees were talking about the scrolls were because she had them, and had not yet turned them over to her superiors.  
'come on girl, I know your passionate about magical creature rights, tell me where the scrolls are.'

She nodded to herself sharply, apparently coming to a decision, and met the kitsune's gaze. "Meet me outside the leaky cauldron tomorrow morning, ten o'clock, and bring your friends." Then she turned and made her way to the lift.

Kurama smirked, they should be able to leave soon.

* * *

Hermione shifted in place outside the door to Harry's house, She didn't like going behind his or Ron's backs, but she was sure they would tell her this was a stupid thing to do and try to stop her. But she knew this was the right thing to do! Demons were sentient creatures, and no wizard should be able to summon them against their will. She had tried to destroy the scrolls herself, but nothing had worked. Hopefully the psychics knew a way to destroy it. But in the meantime, some of the dark witches and wizards had read the scroll. She didn't know how much of it they remembered, but they might still be able to summon demons. or at least write the information down somewhere.

Which led her to why she was at Harry's door trying to decide what to tell him. She could obliviate the dark witches and wizards, but to do that she needed to get inside azkaban without being noticed. The invisibility cloak would to the trick, but she needed a plausible story to tell him.

Or maybe she thought suddenly, telling him the truth, with some omissions, would work.  
She stepped up to the door and knocked firmly.

Harry opened the door a few minutes later, blinking at her owlishly. "'Mione? What's up?"

"Harry, I need to borrow your invisibility cloak." She said quietly.

"My cloak? Why?"

"The dark wizards and witches, some of them may still know how to summon demons. I'm going to obliviate them, so that they can't record it anywhere. That kind of knowledge should be forgotten."

"I dunno Hermione, isn't that a little extreme?"

"Look I'll only be erasing the specifics from their memories, that's all. But I need your cloak to sneak into Azkaban. Please Harry."

He looked her over, "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes." She nodded resolutely.

"Alright, hold on a sec." He vanished into the house a returned a few minutes later with the cloak in hand. He handed it to her hesitantly. "Just be careful yeah?" He muttered.

"I will be, thank you Harry."

* * *

She stood in the entrance of the hallway that all the witches and wizards involved in the demon army were being held. She took a deep breath and focused hard, _"__Obliviate." _She backed away slowly, silently. Once she was back outside the anti-apparation wards she turned on the spot and apparated home.

* * *

Kurama leaned against the wall just beneath the sign of the Leaky Cauldron. Yusuke slumped next to him, and Hiei was perched on top of a small stack of boxes, scowling down at them.  
Hiei and Kurama both looked up as they sensed a wizard approaching. Kurama pushed away from the wall as Hermione came into view, Yusuke moving a half-step behind him.

She glanced around hastily, before approaching them and Kurama winced internally. That made it obvious to anyone watching that they were doing something secretive.

He walked over to meet her. "Hello again Ms. Granger." He said pleasantly.

"Hello." She said a bit breathlessly, "sorry I'm late."

"That's no problem, now what did you want to meet us about?"

She glanced around uneasily. "Listen, I know now, from what you told me Kurama, that Demons aren't all monsters like most wizards believe. And because they're sentient, no wizard or witch should have the power to force a demon to obey them. So..."

She reached into her bag and pulled out two tightly rolled scrolls. Hiei jumped down from the top of the boxes and flitted to Kurama's side.

She watched his fast movements uneasily, then turned to face the three of them. "I found these scrolls in the caves where we captured Achan and the rest of his followers. I've read part of each of them, and I realize what they have in them, I thought that since you're a demon Hiei, you should be the one to have them, so you can decide what to do with them. I tried destroying them with magic, but nothing I tried worked, maybe you have some way to destroy it, or a safe place to hide it. But whatever you decide it's in your hands now."

She held the scrolls out to Hiei. Kurama watched the proceedings with a raised eyebrow. This girl was very serious in her moral convictions, almost foolishly so.

Hiei scowled at her then accepted the scrolls.

She shifted in place uncomfortably, "So what are you going to do now?"

"We'll be heading to back to Japan to take care of the scrolls." Kurama said, "after we've determined exactly how much the witches and wizards involved remember of what they read."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." She said brightening. "I obliviated them of any memory of the details of the scrolls. They'll remember what happened, but they won't be able to tell anyone what the scrolls said, nor how to summon or control demons themselves."

Kurama blinked, "Well then I suppose we'll be on our way home."

She nodded, "Yes, well, it was nice to meet you all. Goodbye." With that she turned and walked off briskly.

The demons watched her go then quickly returned to their room. After gathering all their supplies together they made their way into Diagon alley, and into the room Yusuke and Kurama had first landed in several weeks ago. Kurama grabbed the port-key they had used to arrive and held it out for the others to touch as well. They had explained to Hiei what it was on the way there. Kurama then said the activation word Genkai had told him would return them back to the temple. "Dimwit" and they were yanked away.

* * *

"Dimwit, really? That's the password to bring us back?"

Yusuke tossed his translation chain onto the porch of Genkai's temple as he stretched.

Hiei smirked and Kurama held in his laughter as he removed his own chain, "You have to admit it was easy to remember." The Kitsune remarked.

"Yeah whatever, can we burn the scrolls now?" He looked pointedly at the scrolls in Hiei's hand.

"She did say that the scrolls were protected against damage, it may take a while to find a way to destroy them." Kurama reminded him.

"Protected against wizard methods, lets see how these 'protections' hold up against a darkness flame blast!" Yusuke said excitedly.

Hiei glanced at the toushin, hnned and summoned the flames. The scrolls resisted for a moment before bursting into flames. The ashes caught on the cool mountaintop breeze and floated away.

"Whew, well that was fun." Yusuke grinned."We don't get adventures like that to often now that the underworld fired us."

He slapped Hiei on the back, "Good to have you back to shrimp, we definitely don't want crazy wizards controlling you. You're homicidal enough without their guidance." He snickered.

Hiei glared at him, then vanished as he darted into the forest, heading for Genkai's portal to Makai.

Yusuke just laughed before turning back to Kurama, "It sure is good to be back in Japan though, I can't wait to eat some real food!"

"Yes, we should probably go inform our family's that we're back from our 'camping trip'" Kurama said as they started down the long staircase to the main road.

He stopped when he realized Yusuke was no longer next to him.

The younger hanyou was staring at him with a horrified look on his face, "Crap, Kurama. I forgot to tell Kieko I was leaving. She's going to kill me!"

He dashed down the stairs, heading at a dead run for the nearest bus stop. Kurama laughed quietly and followed at a more leisurely pace. Some things never changed.

* * *

**A/N: Well that's it, it's over. A year and a month in the making and I finished my first fan-fiction.**

**I Hope the ending is satisfying and not too abrupt. If you have any notes or questions, please ask them before the 8th. Thank you so much to everyone who Reviewed, Followed, and Favorited this story! Your support kept me writing.**

**Bye everyone!**

**-DragonElf**


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